


The New Guy

by Spiegatrix_Lestrange



Category: Reylo - Fandom, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alpha Ben Solo, Alpha Phasma, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Alternate Universe - Roommates/Housemates, Angst with a Happy Ending, Awkward Ben Solo, Comedy, Compulsive Singing, Denial is a way of living, Don't Examine This Too Closely, Drunken Shenanigans, Edgy Rey, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Friends to Lovers, I Don't Even Know, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Non-Traditional Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Nonsense, Omega Armitage Hux, Omega Rey, Phasma Queen of Shade, Randomness, Rose Tico is the only responsible adult around, Rose Tico the tiniest Alpha in history, Sassy Hux, Self-Esteem Issues, Swearing, The Author Regrets Nothing, dorks in denial, fictional social issues, for an A/B/O this is the longest slow burn to ever slow burn, slow burn i guess, ugly pajamas
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-12-22
Updated: 2019-04-14
Packaged: 2019-09-24 20:53:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 37,550
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17107943
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spiegatrix_Lestrange/pseuds/Spiegatrix_Lestrange
Summary: After finding his now-ex-girlfriend Bazine in bed with another man, Ben Solo, a thirty-year-old Alpha on the edge of an emotional crisis, is in search of a new house.He ends up living with three of the weirdest women he has ever met.Rose and Phasma seem like responsible, functioning adults most of the time, but their Omega friend Rey, well, she's a whole other story.





	1. Who's that guy?

**Author's Note:**

  * For [SageMcMae](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SageMcMae/gifts).



> a brief note before we start:
> 
> In this story, you'll find terms and dynamics inspired by real social issues, but, just to make it clear, THIS IS NOT SOCIAL COMMENTARY.
> 
> The social issues described here are not a metaphor for real ones, this is just a work of fiction in which I decided to use a certain kind of language to make the issues more understandable and relatable, but this is in no way linked to anything real. 
> 
> This is a pure work of fiction written to have fun, don't look too much into it. 
> 
>  
> 
> Thank you for the amazing SageMcMae for being such an amazing and supportive beta <3 This fic is a gift to you because I'm incredibly grateful of having you by my side in this silly journey ;) Love ya and Happy Holidays!

 

Ben Solo has always considered himself a weirdo, and now, at almost thirty-years-old, he was at peace with it.

 

After all, being affected by what society loved to call PGD (Primal Glandular Disorder) didn’t help at all.

 

If in the past being an Alpha could have been a perk, considering the natural attitude for leadership and the generally stronger built of body and character, in the present beta-centric society individuals like Ben were, well, usually considered a little bit problematic, and somehow also a minority in need for preservation at the same time.

 

When in the seventies, despite the fight of Alpha and Omega’s rights activists, the definition of AO PGD was officially recognized as a condition, things got a little bit more complicated.   
  


Considering that more than 90% of humanity, the Betas, have lost their need for pheromones through evolution, has been easier for the common narrative to describe those who hadn’t like the weird ones, the ones with a disorder.

 

Among the many biased opinions about the AO community, a common misconception was that both Alpha and Omegas were basically sex driven individuals, usually too aggressive (Alphas) or too submissive (Omegas) to not have problematic social interaction.

 

Despite the general condescending, patronizing attitude toward them, anyhow, somehow AO Porn was still statistically the most searched online by Betas, apparently far less interested in being the most evolved, rational ones behind closed doors.

 

Another common misconception about the AO community was that Alpha’s were primarily males and the Omega population was mostly comprised of females, usually expecting excessive femininity from omega males and excessive masculinity from alpha women. 

 

Gosh, that was so wrong.

 

What made a man or a woman an Alpha was just a bunch of physical traits. Other than the usual set of glands both Alpha and Omegas shared, Alphas usually had higher testosterone levels, more upper body strength, more stamina, quicker reflexes, usually solid built and mating periods induced by a pheromonal response.   
  


Omegas usually had a higher amount of estrogens in their systems, making their mating period seasonal. They usually had more lower body strength, increased pain tolerance, and leaner, more agile bodies.

 

Not that the average Beta cared much about those details, but at least nobody still believed the false myth that an Alpha female could impregnate an Omega male.

  
As every other individual, despite the common misconception, Ben was so much more than his designation.

 

Even if he was a six foot three grown Alpha man with an imposing presence and a predilection for black clothes, some weird habits from his teenage years, mostly made to keep a hold on his natural intensity had never left him.

 

Singling while he was in distress, or embarrassed, or mad instead of punching stuff was one of them.

 

Another one, a much more dangerous one, was his innate capacity of falling hard, probably even too hard. So much for keeping his intensity at bay. 

 

These two abilities combined in the most unpleasant way the day he came back home from work with an engagement ring in his pocket, ready to propose to his Beta girlfriend, Bazine, after only six months together and two months after moving in with her.

 

Said ring, a one-carat princess cut diamond on a white gold band wasn’t exactly what he had hoped for but he hoped it was good enough as a replacement.

 

His first choice would have been his grandmother’s engagement ring, two and a half carats of fine vintage design and Italian goldwork mastery, but unfortunately, the precious heirloom wasn’t available at the moment.

 

Leia Organa-Solo, world-famous AO’s rights activist and Ben’s mom, never liked Bazine in the first place, considering her nothing more than a basic, posh Beta with an Alpha kink, and wasn’t eager to hand a valuable part of her heritage to a woman that, in her opinion, saw her son as a fetish and not a person.

 

But she couldn’t be more wrong, Ben was sure of it, at least he was until he entered their apartment. 

 

To his surprise, Bazine seemed not to be expecting him so early, and for some reason, she opened the door wearing only her most expensive lingerie by Victoria’s Secret.

 

Not that he would have complained about such a greeting, but it took him seconds to realize that something was extremely wrong about it. 

 

For instance, there was a chaotic line of discarded clothes leading to their bedroom. Some of those clothes, which were quite obviously male, weren’t his. 

 

The whole house definitely smelled like intercourse, which was easy to notice thanks to his Alpha sense of smell. 

 

The heartbreaking confirmation to his deduction came only a moment later when a random guy opened their bedroom door to ask Bazine for the location of their condom reserve.

 

Despite his initial need to smash the guy’s head against the wall and set the whole apartment on fire, Ben managed to bolt out of the building without a word, long infuriated strides dragging him away from Bazine’s pitiful attempts of an explanation, only singing  _ I’m never gonna dance again _ by George Michael to himself. 

 

Hours later, nested in a cocoon of posh cashmere blankets on his friend Hux’s couch, he kept humming the song repeatedly, the engagement ring still in his pocket.

 

Ben and Armitage Hux had met in college thanks to a AO association they both were part of at the time.

 

Being as Hux was an Omega male, his experience with Beta women was definitely different from Ben’s, but generally similar in many ways since he was de facto on the other side of the kink spectrum, usually attracting the interest of Beta females in need of feeling dominant, ready to consider him a submissive partner/deferent love slave.

 

Luckily for Ben, their friendship had reached the point in which no questions were needed, and after a couple of hours spent in silence, sipping beers and watching cartoons that would have been more enjoyable after a couple of joints, Armitage turned the TV off and wished him goodnight.

 

After a couple of restless hours spent in a vain attempt of sleeping Ben decided it was time to open Craigslist in search for a new apartment. 

  
  


***   
  
After two extremely disappointing attempts ended up with him looking at some kind of dumpster that was supposed to be a studio apartment, Ben came to the conclusion that having roommates was his best option to get a decent home. 

 

Except that he wasn’t exactly prepared to face his first interview as a  potential roommate. 

 

Now he was sitting awkwardly at the far end of a brown leather angular couch, a not particularly good lemonade in his hand while the three women already living in the apartment, all of them sitting on the other side, kept looking at him like he was under severe scrutiny.

 

The fact that the apartment was, de facto, a Beta-free environment was surely inviting considering his current situation.

 

Rose Tico, one of the women on the couch with him, was probably the shortest Alpha woman Ben had ever met, but her muscular, thick built, her LAPD shirt and her resolute, inquisitive stare made up for it quite brilliantly.

 

Phasma Parnassos, on the other hand, looked like the textbook Alpha. Tall, muscular, short platinum hair, posh tailored suit, and dominant attitude.

 

Last but not least, on the other end of the couch Rey Niima, the only female Omega in the house who was staring at him with total disinterest, hazel eyes surrounded by dark circles that told quite evidently that probably she used to sleep at this time of the day.

 

Ben had met a quite decent amount of Omegas in his life, but none of them had looked like this girl.

 

Most Omegas, like his best friend Hux, usually spent a lot of energy and money in their appearance, not out of the need to attract attention but mostly to give the impression they were accomplished, independent beings despite what the society thought of them.

 

Hux used to call it the  _ I-can-deal-with-my-shit _ protocol.

 

Well, Ben couldn’t decide if Rey was the kind of Omega unaffected by the  _ I-can-deal-with-my-shit  _ factor. Maybe she just didn’t care. 

 

Not that he was exactly a fashion connoisseur but probably Hux would have screamed in horror looking at her outfit.

 

The girl was wearing a quite unflattering pair of bleached jeans, a flannel shirt tied up around her waist and a tank top that revealed quite eloquently the considerable amount of tattoos on her shoulders and arms. 

 

The whole ensemble was completed by a pair of fluffy, furry babouches in the most obnoxious shade of bright orange possible.

 

The strangest thing though was the fact that he could barely smell her. To be precise he could, but her scent was covered by something else, like a particularly persistent and definitely unpleasant (at least for him) cheap perfume.

 

“So,” Rose started speaking, giving him a side look, “the rules of this apartment are quite easy. No drugs, no illegal stuff. We take turns for cleaning. If you take someone home for mating stuff like if you’re in rut or she or he is in heat, tell us first.”

 

Well, that was a quite personal thing to ask. 

 

Ben didn’t find the time to point it out. Phasma was already rolling her eyes.

 

“It happened just once, she seemed okay.”   
  
“Yeah, and after two days of you two screaming and moaning like a damn porn from the ‘80s she ran away with our TV,” Rose pointed out.

 

“I-I don’t have a mate, at the moment., Ben cleared his throat, a little more awkwardly than he hoped.

 

His uneasiness must have shown because all of a sudden the girls seemed quite eager to change the subject.

 

“What do you do for living?” Rey asked almost casually, speaking for the first time since he came in.

 

“I’m a teacher. Eighth grade,” the man replied calmly.

 

By the look in the girl’s eyes, none of them seemed to expect that, but that was no news for Ben. After all, he was a six foot three Alpha man wearing almost black.

 

“You must scare the crap out of those kids,” Rey blurred absently, gaining a quite annoyed look by Rose.

 

“What a rude thing to say!” she remarked.

 

“It’s kinda true,” Ben admitted, shrugging his shoulders “I suppose that’s why they’ve hired me.  Difficult class and all that,” he admitted blankly.

 

His remark gained an amused snort from Rey and he found himself smirking back.

 

***   
  
Ben moved in the new apartment two days later.

 

His new roommates didn’t seem impressed by his rush, probably toned down by the words  _ Quite tragic end of a relationship  _ he had thrown almost casually in the conversation during their first encounter while refusing to think too much about it.

 

It’s not like he had a lot of stuff with him.

 

Everything was still at Bazine’s house, except for the duffle bag he used for the gym that usually remained in his car, and a few bags containing the spoils of a pretty challenging session of extremely therapeutic shopping session Hux dragged him to the day before.

 

When he came in it was late afternoon. Rose was right back from work, still in her police uniform, Phasma was shouting at the phone in a language he couldn’t recognize and Rey was out of sight, just greeting him with a  _ Hey _ loud enough from behind the bathroom door as soon as he awkwardly greeted them.

 

As soon as Rose noticed his luggage, she hit him with a quite perplexed stare. 

 

“That’s it?” 

 

Ben chewed the inside of his cheek, not particularly comfortable about where the conversation may end up from here.

 

He wasn’t at all eager to share  how he was too emotionally vulnerable to return to his previous apartment ye t.

 

He also chose not to disclose the fact that, like the total Alpha man he was, he had asked his Omega friend Hux to sneak inside his old home to gather his stuff.

 

_ Very Alpha of him, yeah. _

 

Honestly, he wasn’t ready yet. 

 

He distinctly remembered the sudden need to smash stuff occurred while he was leaving the building, Bazine still partially undressed running after him, and he wasn’t ready to feel that way again. Of course, nobody would have in the same situation, but his own eventual rage was the thing that scared Ben Solo the most.

 

Back in his teenage years being angry had been an almost constant in his life and that was a part of himself he really wanted to leave behind.

 

“A friend will stop by and take some more,” he replied dismissively.

 

A few seconds later Rose was making tea and Rey finally left the bathroom. 

 

Her look didn’t change that much from their first meeting, but Ben could notice a few differences. Her hair was braided into a weird, complicated mohawk, the dark and heavy make-up and a simple, plain black t-shirt with the logo of a bar on its back.

 

Her scent remained hidden under the heavy chemical smell he scented a few days before, only, this time, it was stronger, and definitely more unpleasant.

 

As if she was echoing his own thoughts, Rose’s face winched in disapproval. 

 

“You smell like shit,” she addressed Rey almost casually, pouring four cups of tea for them like it was some kind of habit already.

 

“I smell like I have to if I want more tips,” the Omega girl pointed out shrugging as she took an apple from the basket in the middle of the table. “Hey, Ben.” She repeated, barely looking at him.

 

“Hey…” He found himself swallowing, noticing just now as she moved a little closer how unpleasant the fake odor was. He was forced him to hold back a cough.

 

“See?” Rose insisted nodding toward Ben, who was trying to hide his embarrassing reaction. After all, talking about scent with strangers wasn’t the politest thing to do but none of the girls seemed to mind for some reason. 

 

“Sorry,” he only managed to mutter briefly, giving Rey a timid side look, before grabbing his cup of tea with urgency.

 

“It’s alright. I don’t like this perfume either, but hey, if it gives stupid drunk betas the impression that they can smell me, so be it,” She shrugged “Passing all the time as a horny Omega really helps with tips.”

 

With less than half a sip of tea in Ben’s throat, when he found himself coughing profusely. 

 

At some point, he legitimately believed he was about to expel tea from his nose, but Rey’s firm and warm hand were already patting his back forcefully, her tiny fingers almost disappearing against his huge torso.

 

“It’s only  his first day,” Rose pointed out, giving her a knowing look, as if Ben wasn’t even there, “Have some mercy, will you?”

 

“I-I’m alright,” Ben reassured them weakly, still clearing his throat.

 

“What’s up?” Phasma joined them at the table, her phone back in her pocket.

 

“Rey was traumatizing Ben with her cynic view of the world,” Rose explained almost casually.

 

“Pretty standard,” the tall blonde conceded, not particularly impressed “Asshole jar?”

 

Rey rolled her eyes but said nothing, taking five dollars from her pocket and grabbing an ominous jar at the end of the table, shoving the money inside with a low huff.

 

“What’s the asshole jar?” Ben asked, knitting his brow.

 

“Just a rule of the house,” Phasma explained, “You do or say something asshol-y? You pay.”   
  
Ben’s perplexed glare lingered on the glass container stuffed with money a little longer.

 

“There are hundred dollar bills in there,” he pointed out.

 

“Yup, for the time Phasma’s date stole our TV.”

 

“Or for that time that Rey almost broke our neighbor’s nose,” the blonde remarked.

 

“Hey, I barely knew him and he asked if he could scent me!”   
  
“He was just a stupid beta college kid, he couldn’t even do that,” Rose considered after a sip of tea.

 

“Well, now he’s a college kid with a  _ charming _ broken nose,” Rey conceded with a slightly theatrical bow of her head.

 

“So overly dramatic,” Phasma blurred out, shaking her head in bored disapproval.

 

“I’m still here, by the way,” Rey pointed out furrowing her brow, gaining only a casual shrug from the two Alpha women.

 

“Anyway, plans for tonight?” Rose asked, grabbing her cup of tea.

 

“I should meet with a friend,” the only man explained, “He’s supposed to bring me some stuff from my old apartment.”

 

“Well, if you’re not too intimidated by Rey’s delightful attitude you could come with us, grab a beer and met your friend there.” 

 

Ben swallowed his last swig of tea.

 

“Sure, why not?”

  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Karmageddon

“So, how did you guys meet?” Ben was awful at small talk, especially with strangers. 

 

And even if these women weren’t supposed to be strangers after today, he still wasn’t in the mood to warm up to them so quickly.   
  
That wasn’t their fault, they all seemed quite nice and funny, but Ben rarely was at his best in new environments, especially considering his recent attitude toward life.

 

No,  _ hell no _ , he would not think about Bazine on his first night out, he imposed to himself with a determined scowl that would have looked quite weird to anyone unaware of his current internal struggle.   
  


The bar Rey worked at appeared cheap but comfy, only a few blocks away from their apartment. It was the kind of place with a lot of regulars and an old jukebox usually overused by the local drunk population.

 

He, Rose and Phasma were sitting at the counter, Rey busy on the other side pouring a few shots to a bunch of beta guys too busy ogling at her to even notice how fake her smile looked.

 

“We met in college, Rey and I, our boyfriends at the time introduced us,” Rose explained after a long sip of her beer, “now they’re a couple.”   
  
“Oh,” Ben promptly hid his face behind his glass, swallowing a considerable sip of his pint. Of course, he would accidentally stumble onto a sensitive subject without even knowing. 

 

“It’s alright,” the tiny Alpha woman reassured him, noticing his evident distress, “It was a long time ago. They’re actually pretty chill. They’re trying to adopt at the moment, they want a baby girl to call Reyrose or Roserey ore some shit like that.”   
  
“...Cute.” Ben commented, furrowing his brow, trying to hide the fact that names like that weren’t exactly his thing.

 

“I know those are horrible names, but the other candidates are Minerva Maryl or Diana Daenerys.”   
  
“Ouch.”   
  
“Exactly. Someone has to save that poor girl.”   
  
“You ended up talking about our infamous niece already?” Rey asked from behind the counter, handing them an unrequested but welcomed series of tequila shots.

“There’s no point in trying to hide our darkest secrets anyway,” Phasma pointed out, taking a look around, “The guy is going to live with us, he’ll get used to far worse pretty soon.”   
  
Ben was still searching for a reply that wasn’t too awkward when his phone rang in his pocket.

 

“Oh, Armitage is here. He just parked his car.” 

 

“Your friend?” The tall blonde asked.

 

Before he could answer the lean, pale figure of Hux reached for the counter, looking even paler than usual.

 

“Bazine is a damn psycho,” he declared firmly, not even caring to introduce himself, his usually perfect button down shirt stained in what looked like coffee. The stain wasn’t even dry yet.

 

“She threw…coffee at you?” Ben asked, wide-eyed.

 

“Yeah, and the coffee was hot as hell when she did,” the ginger explained with a wince. “I’ve sacrificed the sensitivity of at least one nipple for you. You owe me.”

 

“God, I’m so sorry,” Ben’s huge hand covered his face in disbelief. “I didn’t believe she could-”   
  
“Hello, Ben’s friend with numb nipples!” Rey intervened from behind the counter, shooting them an exasperated smile as she intentionally ignored an half drunk beta guy who was insistently asking for her number. “Can I get you something to drink? The first round is on the house.”   
  
Armitage appraised her skeptically, unused to genuine kindness.

 

“Rey is my new roommate,” Ben explained promptly, “and these are Rose and Phasma, also roommates.”

 

Hux’s eyebrows raised in apparent surprise as he took a brief look at the three women, gaining a few hand waves in return. 

 

He didn’t seem enthusiastic about the situation. Ben assumed Armitage was worried about the fact Ben was sharing his apartment with far too many Alphas for his taste. Probably even the Omega was too problematic for him. After all, in his own strange way, Armitage had always been protective of Ben, usually to the point of being annoying and slightly offensive.

 

“Is there a problem?” Phasma asked, noticing his expression, a blonde eyebrow raising almost to her hairline as she took a sip of her whiskey.

 

“No ma’am,” the ginger replied passive-aggressively. “I wouldn’t dare,”

 

Rose rolled her eyes beside Ben like she knew exactly what was about to happen. 

 

“Are you trying to prove to us that you’re  assertive or something?” Phasma asked nonchalantly. “Because it’s not working.”

 

Ben inhaled sharply, preparing to sit through another totally unnecessary battle for dominance. To be fair, it wasn’t the first time Hux had found himself in the center of this kind of nonsense. If Ben didn’t know any better, he’d think Hux enjoyed acting on his primal instinct to defend himself in front of Alpha women. It was often without reason or provocation, yet Hux needed to prove his status as a free, independent Omega.

 

“Nobody asked for your approval,” he replied politely.

 

“Well, tell that to your glands. You smell of need, depression and low self-esteem.”

 

“Phas!” Rose reprimanded her, eyes wide.

 

“Fuck you,” Hux stated with a calmness that was more adequate for a conversation about the weather than a proper insult.

 

“You wish,” Phasma spat back, smirking.

 

“Sorry, not my type. I like women, not God-complexes in suits.”    
  
“Armitage!” It was Ben’s turn to look at his friend in shock.

 

“No need to worry, in fact, I prefer women too, and no matter how small your penis is, I’m afraid it’s not a clitoris yet, so,” the blonde gave him another wide, satisfied grin. “Sorry pal, even if you are indeed a pussy, you’re not my kind of pussy.”

 

The table fell into a quite uncomfortable silence before until Hux spoke again, looking quite impressed.

 

“I like her,” he declared, giving Ben an approving nod. “She’s nice.”

 

“You can bring him home,” Phasma conceded, taking another sip. “If he brings alcohol.”

 

“What the hell just happened?” Rey asked, her hazel eyes huge and confused.

 

“Hell if I know,” Ben muttered, his hand rubbing his face.

 

Rose looked just plain annoyed, avoiding any further comments. It didn’t save her from Hux’s side look.

 

“You are quite short for an Alpha,” he considered.

 

She gave him a bored glare.

 

“You look like someone who wants to mess with a Vovinam red belt and a police officer all at once.”

 

The ginger nodded, carefully evaluating his answer.

 

“Got it.” he acknowledged.

 

“Anyway, now that this pissing contest is over,” Rey started. “Ben, can you explain to us why you owe your friend a nipple?”

 

Ben lowered his gaze, taking a deep breath, 

 

“My ex-girlfriend cheated on me in our own house. I didn’t want to see her so I asked Hux to grab my stuff, but she wasn’t too cooperative.”

 

“That’s an understatement,” Armitage grumbled.

 

“Are you serious?” Phasma asked, she looked almost disappointed.

 

Ben didn’t reply, his head falling on his chest, defeated.

 

The three women exchanged a determined knowing look.

 

“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Rey asked, a wide grin appearing on her freckled face.

 

“KARMAGEDDON!” the three of them shouted in unison, fists in the air.

 

“What?!” Ben asked, clearly intimidated.

 

“Karma is going to strike!” Rose announced, a fierce look on her face.

 

“Tonight we’re going to go to your ex’s house and take your stuff,” Phas continued, the grin on her face on the verge of creepy., “And if the bitch stands in our way, she’s going to suffer.”

 

“Oh, god,” the Alpha man whined.

 

“No one treats our Benny boy like shit and gets away with it!” Rey kept going, dramatically raising the empty glass she was cleaning. “We’ll avenge your broken heart tonight, my friend.” She stated, pointing her determined finger at Ben. “And your nipple too,” the woman conceded, nodding at Hux.

 

“Jesus Christ,” Ben wasn’t exactly thrilled with this turn of events. His dark eyes sent Hux a pleading glare, but he only got a shrug in return.

 

“It sounds like a plan,” he admitted.

 

The three women raised their glasses in approval.

 

“The first thing we need,” Rey declared firmly, “is more alcohol.”

 

***   
  
Ben spent the whole way to his former house with a panicked look on his face, humming compulsively “Grenade” by Bruno Mars.

 

Apparently, the only one sober enough to drive at that point was Rey, but her driving style was obviously too influenced by Fast and Furious to be adequate.

 

In other words, the entire drive became an odd mix of Hux’s squeals of fear for the probable imminent destruction of his vehicle, Ben’s humming and Phasma and Rose throwing random motivational speeches at him without inspiring him at all.

 

Why had he agreed to this? He clearly wasn’t ready, yet he was too dizzy to protest. 

 

As they finally reached for the ominous driveway, the car stopped with a loud, dramatic screeching noise.

 

The five of them marched toward the entrance door with determination.    
  
To be fair, Rey, Phasma, Rose, and Hux were the determined ones, Ben wasn’t nearly convinced enough. Rose and Rey had to take his hands and actually drag him at one point.

 

Hux was about to open the door with the keys Ben had given to him a couple of days before, but it opened on its own, the thin, tall figure of Bazine looking at them with wide eyes.

 

“What the hell?!” she hissed, her eyes falling almost instantly on her ex-boyfriend, “Seriously, Ben. You brought a whole bunch of loud strangers to our house?”   
  
“This is not my house,” he only muttered dismissively, looking away.

 

“And we’re not strangers. We’re Benny’s support team,” Phasma explained, her tall frame towering over hers, “So please, step aside so that we can collect his stuff.”   
  


“Who are you, people?” Bazine gave them a perturbed look.

 

“Well, it’s pretty obvious. We’re the Avengers,” Rey announced candidly “She’s clearly the Hulk” 

 

Phasma protested with a loud “Hey!” seeing the Omega girl’s finger pointing at her.

 

“She’s Captain America,” Rey continued nodding at Rose, “and I’m Iron Man because I am an obnoxious bastard with a giant ego.”

 

Hux gave her a vaguely pessimistic look.

 

“Fine, the ginger can be Black Widow, if he wants,” Rey concluded, gaining an exasperated grunt from the red-haired man.

 

Bazine’s face distorted in disgust, and she chose to address Ben as if there was no one else around.

 

“Where did you find this bunch of freaks?” she asked.

 

For some reason, the question caused an intense reaction in him, that particular word stinging a little too much.

 

“These are not freaks, Bazine. These are my friends,” he hissed, his eyes grew suddenly dark as his hands clenched around Rose and Rey’s grip, shaking slightly.

 

“Of course we are,” Rey nodded. “And we don’t like our friends being bullied or cheated on.”

 

The young Omega’s stance was firm and resolute, her chin was up in an evident challenge, her small hand in Ben’s grip growing stronger. 

 

“That’s none of your business,” Bazine replied in a wince. “If Ben needs an advocate to discuss his relationship with me, he really needs to grow some balls, but that’s old news.”   
  
Ben had to fight with himself not to growl, his distress rapidly turning into rage.

 

“My balls are no longer your business,” he added, his voice dropping in a low, ominous rumble. “But I don’t think you’re going to need them, after all, it seemed to me you were pretty covered a few days ago.”   
  
Bazine’s face turned into the most overly dramatic expression possible, while Hux, Rose, and Phasma cheered in approval. 

 

“Do you really want to discuss our relationship in front of these people?” She whined. The Beta’s gaze lowered to her ex’s hands, focusing on the one Rey was still holding. 

 

“I see,” she seethed, venom awakening in his glare again. “So you actually did something Alpha for once in your life. Seriously, I can’t even.” 

 

Her disgusted face only generated a wave of incredulous indignation in the five of them.

 

“I’m holding his hand, so what?” Rey almost roared in her face, moving forward, like if she was shielding Ben with her smaller frame, their hands still entangled together. “It’s something friends do in time of need. You would know if you had a heart.”

 

“And it’s not like you can talk, Baz,” Hux finally intervened. “Even if she was holding his dick it would still be less than what you did to him when you were together.”   
  
Ben shot him an embarrassed expression, ears turning bright red under the coverage of his raven hair. The others seemed perplexed too.

 

“A little bit too graphic?” the ginger asked.

 

“A little,” Rose muttered, shrugging. However, Rey didn’t seem in the mood to care, her murderous glare still fixed on Bazine.

 

“What’s this? Some kind of pathetic AO support group or something?” The victim façade of the Beta woman had lasted less than ten seconds, her face hardening.

 

“We’re turning this in a designation thing now?” Phasma snorted, “Typical Beta narrative. People like us can’t stick together and point out your bullshit and you instantly get nervous,”

 

“I’m not a designationist!” Bazine landed dramatically a hand on her chest, outraged. “I’ve been in a relationship with this idiot of an Alpha for half a year!”

 

“Just to cheat on him as soon you realized he wasn’t incarnating the stereotyped kink you were after,” Hux dismissed her.

 

“Typical Beta, again.” Phasma pointed out, using the most patronizing tone possible. “When you will realize that we’re people, not instruments to your fetish?”   
  
“Enough!” Bazine almost shouted, after a second of hesitation. “I’ll not stay here to be judged by this self-proclaimed tribunal of freaks who know nothing about our relationship!”   
  
“It turned out I knew nothing about our relationship either,” Ben intervened, his face a mask of pure disgust. “Now can we get in? I really need my stuff,”

 

“That’s right,” Rose confirmed beside him. “Move aside, if you don’t mind.”

 

“No. No way,” Bazine replied venomously, “None of you are coming in. If you insist, I’m going to call the police.”   
  
“The police are already here, miss,” the shorter Alpha woman pointed out with a large smirk. “So please, move aside, if you don’t want to be charged for wrongful appropriation.”

 

“And have one of the best lawyers in town as your enemy,” Phasma continued, giving her a menacing look.

 

“And if you want to drink a decent Cosmopolitan ever again,” Rey concluded. “I’m a well-respected member of the bartender union.”

 

Ben scanned them all with a surprised look. Beside Hux, very few people had defended him in his life, and he was clearly not used to it.

 

The five of them offered Bazine their most fierce and obstinate look, waiting.

 

After a couple of seconds, the woman just moved aside, her mouth clenched in a thin line.

 

“Karmageddon, bitch,” Rey hissed at her, taking the first step inside.

 

***

 

As he and Rey managed to finally took the last few suitcases in their apartment, Ben found the sleeping figures of Rose and Phasma on the couch, the alcohol giving them a quite unflattering but still peaceful look. 

 

After the show-down with Bazine, all of them had earned their right to a satisfying, refreshing sleep. It wasn’t every day that a bunch of AO’s could say they had stood up tall against a Beta and gained some recognition. It was surely a first for Ben.

 

The alcohol dizziness was fading slowly when Rey marched toward the fridge, grabbing two beers and handing one of them to him.

 

“It’s to keep the alcohol level high enough,” she explained, sounding ridiculously serious. “If you manage to remain almost drunk for forty-eight hours the hungover will be more bearable, trust me, I’m kind of an expert.”   
  
Ben took the beer, but his head shook slowly, a small, incredulous smile on his face.

 

“I, I think I should thank you,” he admitted, his eyes glued on the bottle in his hands. “I couldn’t have done it today, without you all,”   
  
“Oh, shut up, you totally would have,” Rey encouraged him, taking a small sip. “You just needed to know there was someone supporting you, and that’s what friends are for, right?”   
  
“I guess,” he admitted, shrugging. “I’m just afraid I’m not that good, you know, at being a friend.”   
  
“Ah,” The young omega dismissed his thought waving her hand. “Nonsense. You’ll learn. Me, Phas and Rosie, we’re pretty complicated to deal with, but so are you, it’s going to work.”

 

“I really hope so,” Ben hesitated, his free hand ending in his pocket and freezing as soon as it touched the ominous box that was still in there. Ben had almost forgotten about it, but somehow he knew exactly what to do with it. His new roommates deserved it, and he deserved it too.

 

“Rey, listen,” he cleared his throat. “Do you know if there’s a pawn shop or something like that around here?”

 

“A couple of blocks away, why?”

 

“I need to get rid of something,” with those words the velvety box found its way out of his pocket, looking ridiculously small in his huge fingers.

 

Rey’s eyebrows raised knowingly.

 

“Is it what I think it is?”   
  
“If you think this is an engagement ring I bought for my ex-girlfriend who cheated on me, then yeah.”

 

“Are you sure you are ready to get rid of it?” The young omega asked cautiously.

 

Surprisingly, Ben nodded with an unusual level of determination.

 

“Yup, and I think this house needs a TV more than a stupid engagement ring,” he admitted, attempting a smile on his long, tired face.

 

A huge, wide grin appeared on Rey’s face, lighting up her features in a way Ben didn’t believe was possible. She suddenly looked younger, far less edgy, definitely sweeter.

 

“Rose is probably going to make you pancakes for a year for that,” she beamed at him.

 

“Even more reason to,” he snorted. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I take the chance to wish you all a lovely Christmas/Hanukkah/Solstice. I'm having probably the worst Christmas ever, but I sincerely wish yours could be amazing. Have fun, eat a lot, be nice to each other, spend time with your loved ones. 
> 
> Thank you all for the amazing support and all the comments, in particular, SageMcMae which is not just an amazing beta but also a great friend and a lovely person <3


	3. The Girl with the Edgy Tattoo

Ben wasn’t sure when it began. He clearly remembered his first impression of Rey hadn’t been that much. After all, the fact she was an Omega didn’t automatically mean he would be attracted to her or find her pleasant for that matter, but then something happened.   
  
He wasn’t sure if it happened when she and the others had dragged him to what was now his ex’s apartment to gather his stuff, despite Bazine’s passive-aggressive reaction, or when the next day Rey had taken a shower and washed off that shit she used to spray on her to hide her scent. On his second week in the new apartment he shared with her, Rose, and Phasma, he kept thanking science for his suppressants, because without them things would have probably become really awkward.   
  
Not that Rey was trying to seduce him or anything. She was still her careless self, going around in awful pajamas and neon orange furry babouches that were the substance of nightmares, and yet, there was something so different in his perception of her now.   
  
The way she stood up against Bazine, probably fueled by the considerable amount of alcohol they had shared that night, claiming he was her friend and she didn’t tolerate people bullying her friends, was probably the least omega-y thing he had ever seen. Yet it had warmed his heart and other far less romantic parts in a way that was totally unexpected.

  
The problem was the warmth hadn’t stopped over the last few days, and, to his own utter horror, his scent was starting to shift.   
  
Fortunately, there was no way in hell he could go in rut with the ridiculous amount of suppressants in his body, but the idea of Rey smelling him, even casually, was making him really nervous.    
  
This was a bad idea. They were roommates, and Rey didn’t seem the type of person who liked biology enough to be comfortable with a male alpha pining over her, especially her six foot three ridiculously goofy roommate who worked as a teacher for eighth-grade kids and used singing random pop songs out of nowhere as a way to cope with stress.   
  
Let’s face it, even Rose and Phasma wouldn’t exactly be in favor of this new development.    
  
Ben had quickly learned how the dynamic worked between them. The two alpha women were extremely protective of Rey, despite the fact she wasn’t exactly in need of protection.   
  
The truth was that he needed an outlet, and he needed it right now before things could get worse.   
  
What did people do in these cases? Oh, right.   
  
Ben put on his favorite shirt, a pair of jeans that, according to Hux, flattered his thighs, whatever that meant, and stormed out of his room, determined this would be the first night of his new life. 

 

Ben Solo, the womanizer. 

 

Not Ben Solo the lame excuse for an Alpha, not Ben Solo the awkward guy who waits for the third date for touching a leg despite thinking about marriage since the second one. It was time for Ben Solo, the pussy slayer.   
  


He stopped in his tracks as he saw Rey at the mirror near the hallway. Apparently, he wasn’t the only one ready for a night out. She was even wearing a damn dress. Since when she did wear dresses?

 

If her attire wasn’t surprising enough, Ben noticed for the first time the tattoo decorating Rey’s neck. 

 

Right on top of her mating gland, a quite eloquent “don’t even think about it” was written in old-school letters was showing, looking inviting as hell. For Christ’s sake.   
  
“Are you going out?” she asked casually, putting an earring on.   
  
“Yup,” he muttered, his voice sounding strain all of a sudden.   
  
“Cool. I’m going to a bar. I’m about to meet some friends. Want to come along?”   
  
Ben bit the inside of his cheek, screaming internally.   
  
“Sure,” he babbled, “let’s go.”

 

This was a terrible idea.

  
  


***   
  
Pussy slayer, my ass. 

 

His resolve had lasted less than his first beer. Rey had dragged him into a crowded, obnoxious pub full Beta hipsters that were probably ten years younger than him. 

 

Her friends seemed to be late, just to add something else to the lists of things to be nervous about.    
  
Rey’s dress wasn’t particularly flashy, or flattering. It was short enough to show her legs but wasn’t exactly wet-dreams material.

 

That damn tattoo, however, was staring at him from the mating gland on the back of her neck as she walked in front of him towards a table, and he just couldn’t stop looking back at it. 

 

Even if the tattoo said “Don’t even think about it” in quite eloquent letters inked on her skin, all he could read was “I know you want to take a bite, you lame pervert”, and it was so damn true he found himself sighing in resignation.

 

As they finally took a seat and that teasing tattoo was finally out of his sight, Ben forced himself to appear at ease, even if he was in a place he wouldn't have gone to in a million years if it wasn’t for Rey. The girl he apparently liked, who also happened to be his off-limits roommate, was sitting right next to him, oblivious of his struggle as she drank her whiskey without a care.

 

“So,” she started after a while, her stare lost somewhere between them, “has Bazine bothered you again?”

 

Great, just great. The night had finally reached a new peak of awkwardness. After all, what could be better than talking about the ex who cheated on you with the girl you liked? 

 

Gosh, he still couldn’t believe he ended up admitting his interest in her so easily, even to himself. 

 

“No,” he muttered, clearing his throat, “I just got a picture of a sweater I forgot there lit on fire.” 

 

Rey seemed impressed, her eyebrows raised in disbelief.

 

“What a psycho bitch.”

 

Well, it was not like he could have phrased it better.

 

“I don’t know if I care,” he admitted after a long swig of beer.

 

“You know, Benny?” Rey muttered, a friendly fist landing on his shoulder in a supportive punch, “Good for you. You deserve better.”

 

“Do I?” he asked hesitantly.

 

“Sure!” she nodded, ”you’re a good guy. You have and heart of gold, and a romantic soul. You’ll find the woman for you, have the huge, pompous, ridiculous wedding you secretly desire and have a ton of kids dear Aunt Rey will never babysit.” 

 

Rey offered him a smile that was supposed to be funny, but somehow he felt he could read a bit of sadness between the lines.

 

The way she had phrased her last statement wasn’t made to diminish his masculinity or something like that. It was like a part of her actually wished this for him, but she spoke like those things were something so distant from her, like she wouldn’t have had anything like this in her future, not even if she wanted to.

 

“Is it so evident that I’m that kind of person?” Ben asked, a hint of defeat in his voice.

 

“Yes,” she confirmed, “But it’s not a bad thing, you only have to be careful,”

 

“Careful?” 

 

“I don’t want people like Bazine to take advantage of you,” she pointed out like it was the most obvious thing ever, “that’s what friends are for, right?” 

 

Ben forced himself not to sigh like a damn lovesick teenager because it would have been fucking ridiculous. He really hoped his eyes weren’t betraying him as he looked at her. He sure as hell wasn’t ready for Rey’s reaction to an attack of his unfortunately legendary puppy dog’s eyes.

 

When Poe and Finn finally approached their table, he had never been so happy to be in the presence of strangers. Well, happy wasn’t exactly the right word, more like relieved.

 

The two of them didn’t smell like something in particular, so they were Beta. Good, at least nobody would have smelled his “Hey Omega I’m here, notice me” scent. Luckily it was still too soft for Rey to notice, or she probably wouldn't have been so natural and calm around him. 

 

Anyway, she looked far too distracted for that, giving Poe and Finn a wide smile and a warm hug.

 

“Nice to see you, guys!”   
  


“Hello, Peanut!” the dark-skinned man greeted her, followed by a brief and cheerful “Hello, ReyRey!” by the man beside him.

 

“And this is Ben,” the woman introduced him, he outstretched his hand politely, only to find quite shocked looks in the other men’s faces.

 

“Woah,” Finn commented, “You’re large as a damn wardrobe.” 

 

“He looks a little too... accomplished to be your type, honey,” Poe nodded, “Since when do you date functioning adults, Rey?”   
  
They both gained a coordinated outraged slap in their shoulder by a pretty scandalized Rey.

 

“First of all, he’s my new roommate,” she pointed out, her eyes throwing daggers at them, “Second of all, rude!”   
  
“Oh, don’t see ours as rudeness,” Finne explained, raising his hands defensively, “we were just worried for the guy,”

 

Ben was looking at them with wide, skeptic eyes. Just what he needed: people knowing Rey for a very long time, incline to talk about her attitude towards men, throwing him under the bus without even knowing him because _reasons_.

 

He took a huge swig of his beer, giving them a side look.

  
  


***

 

  
Two hours and four beers later, the conversation had become more bearable. Finn and Poe weren’t actually that bad, they were pretty funny and had interesting jobs to talk about. 

 

Poe was a pilot, a thing that made Ben slightly uncomfortable considering how much it reminded him of his dad, but by now he knew how to handle that kind of cockiness, while Finn worked as an artist, drawing comic books and comic books covers. 

 

It was pretty easy for Ben to unleash his nerd side with him, and they both ended up speaking enthusiastically about superheroes and sci-fi.

 

It all went well until Rey decided it was the time to go to the toilet and he ended up alone with the two of them.

 

“Very well,” Poe started, giving Ben an inquisitive look, “What’s your game with Rey?”   
  
Ben ended up almost spitting his beer through his nose.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“It’s not a difficult question,” Finn nodded beside his boyfriend, “Are you interested?”

 

Ben remained speechless for a long moment, eyes wide, just in time to hear Finn talk again.

 

“I know she looks tough and all that, but in case you’re into that, buddy, don’t, just don’t. She’s far more fragile than she looks.”

  
  


That was quite possible, after all, Ben knew all about the necessity of appearing different from what you are.

 

Nevertheless, he knew pretty well that, no matter how he felt, this wasn’t a good idea.

 

“Guys, there’s nothing going on here,” he assured them, carefully avoiding to add the word  _ unfortunately _ , “We’re roommates. Who in his right mind would ever date their own roommates?”   
  
_ You,  _ a voice taunted him inside his head, _ and watch TV with her on Sunday morning in ugly pajamas, make her breakfast, buy her socks and lick that damn tattoo on her mating gland all day. _

 

Damn, he was screwed. He hoped though that his resolute façade would last so that the two Betas could actually think of him as a stable, accomplished, very serious Alpha.

 

“I hope you’re not saying this because you don’t like Rey,” Poe replied all of a sudden, his dark eyes incredibly serious, “because she’s great and you’d be lucky to have her.”   
  
“Yup,” Finn, nodded, “She’s amazing. Beautiful, smart, even kind when she lets herself go a little.”   
  
_ What the fuck? _ What was even the point with these guys? Were they just fucking with him? Either way, his brow knitted, clearly perplexed.

 

“Guys, I never said I don’t like Rey.” Yup, maybe a little too much a voice in his head added mercilessly, “I’m just saying that the fact that she’s an Omega and I’m an Alpha doesn’t mean that I’m interested in her or something is going to happen between us.”

 

“You’re an Alpha?” Finn asked, eyes wide, Oh, so they didn’t know. 

 

Ben nodded, uneasily.

 

“Well, this changes everything.” the dark-skinned man nodded.

 

The perplexity turned into clear stupor on Ben’s face.

 

“What?!”   
  
“Let’s just say,” Poe started, evidently cautious, “and we’re not talking about this because we’re interested in assuming things about your designation or hers, that Rey does her best to avoid all Omega things that could influence her life. Which is good, don’t get me wrong,” he continued, raising his hands, “but I’m afraid it’s also not totally healthy, in some departments. You know...”   
  
Poe pointed at his crotch as discreetly as possible, Ben’s ears turned a bright shade of red under his fortunately long, dark hair.

 

“Yeah, so if you want to, let’s say, bring this thing to another level, the level she decides of course,” Finn assured him, “You have our blessing,”   
  
Ben had never been so confused in his life. What did these guys want from him? This was pure nonsense. He didn’t know Rey that much and knew these guys even less. Why did they think it was appropriate to talk about shit like that with a stranger?

 

“Miss me?” Rey asked in a wide smile, coming back to the table.

 

Ben let himself breathe normally again, hoping her presence wouldn’t allow the previous conversation to escalate. 

 

***   
  
“So, what do you think of them?” Rey asked Ben as they walked back home, a soft wind chilling the night air.

 

“They’re nice,” the Alpha answered, not sounding particularly convinced.

 

Rey remained silent for a little while, giving him a curious sideways look.

 

“Did they say something stupid when I was gone?” she asked, almost amused.

 

Ben’s whole body stiffened, his hand nesting in his pockets like his life depended on it. He just kept walking, eyes fixed on the sidewalk.

 

“Nope,” he muttered, “I don’t know what you mean.”    
  
He was too busy looking elsewhere to notice Rey’s smile beaming at him. Her hand landed on his back, almost as though she was trying to comfort him.

 

“Let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm stunned by the amount of kudos and comments on this story! I'm so grateful and I want to thank you all for your support that comes in a quite rough time <3 So yeah, thank you <3 So much!!
> 
> And also thank you, as always, to SageMcMae, amazing beta and wonderful friend who showers me with support, kindness, excellent advice and a lot of adorable moodboards <3
> 
> You can find said adorable moodboards on my Tumblr: spiegatrixlestrange


	4. True American

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I have this amazing Beta <3   
> SageMcMae  
> She's literally the best, the sweetest, gentlest person around here and I'm so grateful for her help <3

Rey wasn’t exactly the type of woman made for yoga and meditation. There was always some kind of nervous, unaccomplished energy trapped within her that made relaxing almost impossible. 

 

The only thing that kept her balanced had somehow become her little secret, at least since she dropped out of art school. 

 

After all, being talented at something didn’t automatically mean you had to share it with the world, especially if world’s first response was usually to remark on how much you were wasting your talent living your life in a dead-end job.

 

So, once a week, Rey took her secret with her to a bench in the park near home. She’d spend at least a couple of hours there, just drawing random stuff for herself in the company of the only person she was comfortable with when it came to expressing her feelings.

 

Rey didn’t remember when she met the Bearded Guy for the first time. It had been a year, maybe more. 

 

Their interactions were fairly simple. She always found him on her favorite bench. He never spoke, merely gave her a reassuring smile and a wave of his hand before he started doing some yoga and she began to draw.

 

She didn’t even know his name or if he was homeless or something like that. She only knew he looked quite scruffy with his gray hair and beard unkempt, baggy, hippie-like clothes and shoes off. 

 

Rey had started talking to him almost as a joke, just to break the weird silence that was the main part of their interaction despite spending two hours a week together, and soon, it all turned into something akin to a therapy session, with her talking about her shit while the Bearded Guy listened patiently, doing this or that yoga position, giving her a few reassuring looks in the meantime.

 

He didn’t smell like anything in particular, so Rey assumed he wasn’t an AO, but his blue eyes turned particularly sympathetic when she ended up talking about the matter.

 

It didn’t happen that often but this was one of those days. 

 

“Do you remember Poe and Finn? The guys that want to give their future daughter an ugly ass name?” She asked almost casually, her eyes glued on her sketchbook as the Bearded Guy barely nodded, focusing on his dog position.

 

“Apparently their new hobby at the moment is to find me an Alpha. They’ve decided I really need one for some reason. They even tried to set me up with my roommate,”

 

The Bearded Guy gave her a perplexed look.

 

“I know, right? Don’t get me wrong. He’s really nice, and he’s a good guy. Kind, and sensitive, and he smells like clean sheets, firewood, and Christmas, but,” Rey sighed, her pencil working relentlessly on the paper, “but we’re not just our biology. The fact that he’s an Alpha and I’m an Omega doesn’t mean that something must happen. We’re too different, and he’s clearly not messed up enough for me.”

 

His brow knitted at the statement, his intense blue eyes almost reprimanding her.

 

“Hey, this is not about me being scared of happiness like a few months ago, okay?” She assured, raising her hands defensively, “I’m just saying that assuming an Alpha and an Omega will be together solely because they live together is stupid. I don’t think it’s a good plan. Don’t look at me like that! I don’t even know if I like him that way!”

 

One of his brows arched skeptically, almost reaching for his hairline.

 

“I’m not in denial or something! Again, this is not me trying to be tough at all costs!” she replied almost in a whine, “We already talked about this. Do you know how exhausting it is to be tough all the time?”

  
  


***   
  
“You know how exhausting it is to be scared all the time?” Ben asked in a deep sigh, his hands looking huge as the grasped firmly his cup of coffee.

 

“We all have to deal with stuff like that,” Hux admitted, sitting in front of him. “It’s like an AO’s duty to subvert expectations at all times. Alphas feel obliged to repress themselves or they’re going to be perceived as brutes. Omegas need to always appear in control to not be perceived as submissive. This is the great trap, but this doesn’t mean you have to stop living.”

 

“Easier said than done,” the Alpha man winced, “you know what happens when I let the Alpha side be in charge.”

 

Hux rolled dramatically his eyes,

 

“Ben, I’m not saying that you should wear armor, pillage the grocery store and kidnap the Omega old lady who runs the laundry next door,” the ginger explained. “I’m just saying that you can’t live your life in fear of being too intense.”

 

“You know what happens when I get too intense,” Ben insisted, “Do you remember what happened in college with that Erudo guy?”

 

“Erudo was just a Beta ass who wanted to win a pissing contest with you. He picked the largest Alpha he could find and tried to instigate you just to prove his dick was big enough,”

 

“Yup, and he ended up in a hospital,” 

 

“Ben, he literally punched you and broke his knuckle against your cheekbone. It’s not like you purposely broke his legs or threatened him with a knife,” Armitage pointed out.

 

“But I was the one who received  disciplinary action by the college council,” 

 

“Because Erudo’s mother was a member, and she refused to realize how idiotic her son was,” the male Omega just shrugged his shoulders. “You’re putting too much thought into this. You live your life fearing people might fear you. This is not healthy. You can’t live your life on your tiptoes, apologizing for what you are at any given chance. Your mother would kick your ass if she knew.”

 

It was Ben’s turn to roll his eyes.

 

“Please, don’t drag her into this,”   
  
“Have you at least told her what happened with Bazine?”   
  
Ben shifted uncomfortably, looking huge compared to the chair he was sitting on.

 

“I’ve told her we broke up. I haven’t told her why. I’m not in the mood for the whole _ I told you so  _ speech,”

 

“Was she relieved?” Hux almost snorted in amusement.

 

“More like ecstatic,” the Alpha man admitted, barely hiding a bitter smirk, “but at least she tried not to show it. She immediately focused on the fact that now I have to find the right girl for me,”

 

“Which means an Omega girl, knowing your mother.” 

 

“Of course it means that. It’s not like she’s a fan of Alpha/Anything but Omega relationship, and fifteen years with my dad didn’t help,” Ben admitted in a sigh, “Now that she has her Omega, she feels so accomplished she think she has a degree in AO functional relationships.”   
  
“How is Amylin by the way? Did they move into the new house?” 

 

“She’s fine. I think they’re going to stop by for Thanksgiving. I only hope they’re not going to bring Kaydel with them,” the Alpha man’s mouth clenched in a little wince, “even if I’ve known her since she was ten she’s still…weirdly competitive,”

 

“Of course,” Hux teased him “You’re the Alpha big brother, she’s the Alpha little sister,”   
  
“We’re not even siblings,” Ben remarked firmly. “The fact that our mothers are in a relationship doesn’t mean that we’re brother and sister all of a sudden.”   
  


“All of a sudden?” Armitage snorted, “It’s been fifteen years, Ben. I think it’s time for you to accept that,”

 

“Of course I accept that! I’m just saying that I don’t want Kaydel to mess things up like she always does, especially not in my house, especially not during Thanksgiving. Have you forgot the time she almost jumped your bones on her spring break?”

 

“Yup,” Hux admitted, and it seemed like the thought of that episode gave him a shiver. “Still the most aggressive wooing I can remember,”

 

“Wooing is an understatement,” Ben pointed out. “Well, since my roommates will be there you can ask Phasma or Rose to protect you,”   
  
Hux’s ginger eyebrow raised, his green eyes shooting daggers at his Alpha friend.

 

“That will never happen.”

 

***

 

When Ben and Hux came back from their coffee, the sun had already set, casting a warm golden light in the apartment.

 

As they entered, they both found themselves in a scenario none of them expected: most of the furniture had been moved in places that made no sense.    
  
Rose was sitting on the dining table, carefully placing a bottle of vodka in the center surrounded by a conspicuous number of beer cans.

 

“What’s going on?” Ben was almost afraid to ask.

 

“True American,” Rey explained, carrying in a chair from the corridor, and placing it in the middle of the room. “You guys wanna play?”

 

“They will,” Phasma stated from the kitchen, her tone leaving them very few options.

 

“What the hell is True American, anyway?” Hux queried, clearly confused.   
  
“A drinking game.” Rey explained candidly, “The kitchen table is the Castle, the vodka is the king and the beers are his guards. Every turn you have to finish a quote or hold a number of fingers against your forehead. If no one else has up the same number or you finish the quote correctly, while jumping to the next position, you can move forward.”   
  
“And why is the furniture like this? Ben questioned.

 

“Because the floor is lava, of course. You touch the ground you lose,” the Omega woman continued. “You can spend one turn at the time on the table. Once you get there you can take a beer, stab it with your key and drink. This way, you killed a guard. As soon as the king has lost all his guards and the vodka is unprotected you can drink it. The first who takes a swig wins.”   
  
Both men looked bewildered.

 

“Was this your plan for tonight?” Hux asked, his ginger eyebrows rising into his hairline.

 

“Of course,” Rose pointed out from the dining table, beaming at them. “Shall we?”

  
  


***   
  
Well, things had escalated quickly.

 

In less than half an hour, they drank most of the beers around the vodka-king, and now they were scattered around the room, precariously standing on various pieces of furniture. 

 

Ben was balancing on one of the kitchen chairs, only one jump away from the castle where only two beer-guards were left. 

 

“One,two, three, JFK!” Rose shouted from the couch, announcing it was the time to pick numbers. As soon as they all looked at each other to check for the numbers on their foreheads, Hux and Rey squealed in unison, definitely too tipsy to care.   
  
As Hux outstretched a long leg to reach for the dresser where Phasma was standing on, Ben found Rey, only one chair away, looking at him intently.

 

“I hope you’re ready, Solo,” she announced, pointing at his chair, “because you’re not going to stop me on my way to the king.”   
  
The Alpha male swallowed thickly, looking at his feet. They were huge on the seat of the chair, leaving not nearly enough space for Rey. 

 

This wasn’t a good idea, being this close to her wasn’t a good idea at all, especially if he wanted to get rid of his weird crush. Unfortunately, it seemed like he didn’t have much choice.

 

He barely found the time to distantiate his feet as much as possible without falling on Rey, who was already jumping on his chair. She grabbed his torso to steady herself, her horrendous furry babouches nesting between his massive Oxford shoes as the chair trembled sinisterly under them. 

 

Ben grabbed her waist out of instinct, to make sure she would not fall on the floor, and her hands tightened on the fabric of his shirt in response.

 

“In case you get any ideas, Benny,” she hissed playfully, her neck craned upward to look at him. “I’m not letting you push me out of the way. If I fall, you fall with me,” 

 

She emphasized the concept by giving a determined pull to his shirt, just to make things clear, but Ben was too distracted by her scent to focus on her threat.

 

God, why does she had to smell that good?

 

To be fair, he knew perfectly it didn’t work like that. Pheromones didn’t have a distinct smell per se. It was the brain receiving them, perceiving the impulse and turning it into what the person preferred.   
  
The more the person’s pheromones were compatible with yours, the more appealing the smell would be, and right now, Ben could only scent old books, freshly brewed coffee, and a distinct blend of skin and detergent that reminded him of naked cuddles under a warm, clean blanket.

 

He tried to shake off the dizziness her scent was giving him, attempting to think about less appealing things he could imagine. Indulging in her smell, no matter how good it was, would only serve to give him an undeniable hard-on, and his crotch was far too near to her belly for him to permit that to happen. 

 

“Benny!” Phasma called from beside Hux, “It’s your turn!”

 

“Uh, yeah, sorry,” he grumbled hesitantly, looking away from Rey and clearing his throat, “So, quote,” He found Rey’s hand taking his as she turned slightly, getting ready to jump on the table.

 

“Hello,” he started, eyes pointed on Rey, “my name is…”   
  
“Indigo Montoya!” She started speaking in unison, beaming at him, as she dragged him on the last jump, “You killed my father, prepare to die!”   
  
To be fair, all of them knew the quote, but their repeating fell numb on his ears, his hand tightening on Rey’s as they both jumped on the table.

 

They both landed safely, in a loud thud which made the bottle of vodka tremble.

 

“There’s only one beer can,” Ben noticed. “What do we do?” 

 

“We share it. If we manage to drink it in less than ten seconds without staining our clothes we win,” Rey explained, “and the vodka king is all ours,”

 

“That sounds a little arbitrary,” the Alpha man pointed out, his fingers casually fidgeting his keys.

 

“What part of this game is not arbitrary?” she replied, taking a look around. “Wait, I have an idea. Take your shirt off,”

 

“What?”

 

“If you don’t have a shirt on, you can’t stain it,” Rey explained. “Come on, Ben, do you want that vodka or not?”

 

“What are you two whispering about?” Phasma shouted from the dresser.

 

“We invoke the Lyndon Johnson rule!” the Omega woman replied with a sardonic smile.   
  
“What’s that?!” Hux asked.

 

“Boo!” Rose protested loudly from her new spot on the coffee table. “That’s cheating!”   
  
“No, it’s not!” Rey assured, fumbling with the buttons of her flannel shirt, “You can invoke it once a game, so shut up! Now, Benny, come on!”

 

Ben swallowed thickly, again, mentally thanking his long hair for adequately covering his ears. They were feeling ridiculously warm right now.

 

Without much hesitation, Rey removed her shirt, revealing a particularly unsexy black sports bra and a lot of tattoos Ben hadn’t known about, but the sight still made his mouth go instantly dry.

 

Ben was pulling his shirt from his head when she took the ominous last beer from the table. 

 

Rey was about to stab the beer, her keys raising menacingly toward the can when her eyes stumbled on his bare torso. 

 

Her eyebrows raised in the most discrete impressed look she could manage.

 

“Wait, what?” Rose shouted in a giggle, “Benny has abs?”

 

“All people have abs,” the Alpha man muttered defensively.

 

It was Rey’s turn to clear her throat, forcing her stare on his face.

 

“You ready?” she asked, suddenly nervous.   
  
“If I have to,”   
  
“Fine. Three, two, one… Go!”   
  
With two combined, firm stab they both pierced the opposite sides of the can, clumsily attaching their mouths to the newly formed holes to suck the beer.    
  
Ben struggled a little, lowering his massive form just enough to drink, trying hard not to focus on the fact that Rey’s lips were incredibly near now, just a beer can away from his.

 

They swallowed the content in seconds, mostly because Rey was more a sink than a person when it came to beer. As they finished, the Omega woman raised the empty can in the air, showing it off proudly as if it was some kind of trophy.

 

“We did it!” She giggled triumphally, carelessly throwing the can off the table and grabbing the vodka-king.   
  
Ben was desperately trying to find something to say, something that wasn’t b _ oobs, you smell good, tattoos, _ or  _ boobs _ again when his breath died in his throat as he felt Rey’s naked, tattooed arms encircle his neck into an enthusiastic hug.

 

“We did it!” She repeated, jumping in excitement as she clung to his shoulders.

 

“Boo!” Phasma shouted, sounding incredibly distant. “Get a room you two!”

 

Ben repressed his primal urge to grab Rey and throw her on his shoulder to carry her to his bedroom. He let out a low desperate sigh. He really hoped she didn’t notice. 

 

The situation was getting out of hand. God, he was in trouble. 

 


	5. The Spanish Inquisition

When Rey woke up the next morning, her head was still aching from a terrible hangover, leaving her with puffy eyes and a pretty disgusting breath. 

As she walked toward the kitchen with the grace of a crippled toddler, she instantly recognized the undignified figure of Hux sleeping on the couch. His tie was still wrapped around his forehead like it was some kind of ridiculous bandana, and he was snoring like no one’s business, the irritating sound filling the room and almost hurting her fuzzy brain.

How could such a skinny man produce such an outstanding amount of noise was a mystery.

A few steps further, just around the kitchen table, Rose and Phasma were already awake, pouring coffee. When she entered, they both shot her sideways looks. 

Rey managed to reach for the table, holding onto it for support as she stretched her hand out to grab her cup. When Phasma’s cruel hand retrieved the mug from her grasp, keeping it just out of reach, the Omega woman almost whined.

“We need to talk,” Rose uttered, sleepy but firm.

“About what?” Rey grumbled.

“About last night,” Phasma replied.

“What about last night? If it occurred after I attacked the Vodka King, then I don’t remember.”

“Convenient,” Rose pointed out, looking unimpressed, “but you’re not going to get away with it so easily.”

“What did I do?” Rey groaned, her hand clawing the air in a desperate attempt to reach for her coffee. “Did I break something? Because I’ll repay-”

“Rey, we’re talking about something totally different here,” Phasma insisted.

“Different how?”

“Different like the fact that you jumped on Ben while not wearing your shirt,” Rose pointed out, her face expressionless. 

Rey recognized what was going on. After all, living with a lawyer and a policewoman for four years had taught her that any kind of conflict ended up in some weird kind of interrogation, followed by a cold, merciless debate and the closest thing to a formal complaint you could find in a kitchen environment.

Too bad she wasn’t in the mood for this.

“So what?” she huffed, “We were playing!”

“You hugged him while you were in your underwear, after forcing him to take his shirt off,” Phasma stated coldly.

“So? It’s a rule of the game. You can take your shirt off to make sure you’re not going to spill beer on it.”

“Yes, but that doesn’t mean that it’s normal. The guy looked like he was on the edge of a heart attack.” 

“What? Nah, that’s not true.”

“And besides,” Phasma continued, “since when do you hug people? You hate being touched. You literally patted me on the back once since we’ve met, and my grandmother had just died. It was three years ago.”

“I touch Rose all the time,” Rey grumbled defensively.

“No. Exchanging calming sniffs with your Alpha straight friend, who is also a girl, to calm down when one of you is stressed it’s not at all like a hugging a straight Alpha, who is also a man out of nowhere while being partially naked,” the tall blonde clarified.

“Holy fuck! Is this a trial or something?” The Omega woman complained, rolling her eyes.

“Do you like Ben, Rey?” Rose asked, with the same detachment she would have used in the interrogation room.

Rey’s mouth fell open, her eyebrows flying upward towards her hairline.

“What?!”

“It’s a simple question, Rey,”

The Omega swallowed thickly. Nonsense, this was nonsense. She didn’t like Ben, not that way. 

Well, yeah, he smelled like the most reassuring things she could imagine. He had amazing hair, huge shoulders that made her want to climb him like a damn tree, and an adorable set of facial expressions that made her want to both squeeze his cheeks and lick him all over for some reason - Wait.

Wait a minute.

What?

Holy fucking fucker fuck.

She liked Ben.

When did it happen?

No. No. Nope. This was a bad idea. Abort. Abort. Deny to the death. Deny to the death and beyond.

“Naaaah,” The Omega girl whined in protest, sounding unconvincing as fuck while her hands moved awkwardly in an unnecessarily dismissive gesture.

“I smell bullshit,” Phasma declared.

“Why are you trying to lie?” Rose asked with a sigh. “God, Rey, you’re such a bad liar,”

“I’m not,” she protested.

“You are. Do you remember that time you spent almost a day stuck on the phone with the electric company operator, merely because you weren’t able to come up with an excuse to end the call?”

“Yeah, but-”

“Or the time you almost burst into tears at the border with Mexico because you’ve forgotten to declare you were bringing back a handmade doormat and four enchiladas?”

“Hey! This doesn’t mean-”

“Rey, do you like Ben or not?”

“HOLY FUCKING BABY JESUS ON A ROCKET STROLLER!” Rey basically shouted, Hux, still asleep on the couch, snored louder, as if in response to her outburst. “Is this the Spanish Inquisition or something?” 

“Rey,” Rose cleared her throat, “we’re just trying to understand what’s going on.”

“Exactly,” Phasma continued, “We don’t want things to get messy here at home,”

“We’re not saying you shouldn’t like Ben, ReyRey,” the shorter Alpha explained, her voice becoming softer, calmer. “It’s your business, you’re an adult, most of the time. We’re only saying that if you do, and you decide to act on it, we hope you won’t make things too weird here. Let’s face it, darling. You’re not exactly a champion when it comes to functional relationships,”

“Hey!” Rey protested, “Rude. I call the Asshole Jar!”

“She’s right, hun,” Phasma pointed out dismissively. “You've always been so scared of attachment that you search for ways to sabotage your relationship before they even begin. We don't want you to end up in your usual black hole of insecurity and self-destructive behavior."

“How nice of you,” the female Omega groaned, her hands covering her face.

“You haven’t answered our question. Do you like him or not?”

Rey took a deep, exasperated breath.

“I don’t know.”

“Care to find out?” Rose suggested, “I think you owe that to yourself, maybe even to him.”

***

Rey’s usual reaction to finding out she was into someone was simple and safe: fuck the guy senseless, convince herself it was just sex, convince the guy it was just sex, cut every possible connection with him and, finally, drink enough to wipe that shit out of her system. And by ‘that shit’ she meant feelings, so, yeah.

Unfortunately this time, the whole cut every possible connection step wasn’t an option since she had been ridiculous enough to be attracted to her own roommate.

And even if the fuck the guy senseless part was indeed appealing, a little too appealing actually, that didn’t make it a good idea. 

In other words, there was only one option left. Denial. Denying to the sky and beyond, Denying like the fate of the universe depended on it. 

After all, it wasn’t a big deal. No, it was not. She was a capable, mature woman in contact with her feelings. All she had to do was to shove those damn feelings she was so in contact with in the trash ASAP. Can’t be that hard, right?

 

Wrong, so fucking wrong.

Rey realized she was screwed the moment she found herself in the bathroom, trying to find the strength to brush her teeth. She spent the next fifteen minutes smelling the scent Ben had left in the room after his shower instead.

Fuck, he smelled nice.

A part of her pictured his bare form under the hot stream of water, those hands as big as shovels brushing gently against his pale skin, those damn huge shoulders relaxing under the gentle pressure of the warm water.

Maybe Ben was into shower sex. Damn, that would be amazing. Surely he was strong enough to lift her and slam her against any vertical surface and shove his huge - STOP.

No. Stop it. Holy Fucking Christ.

Besides, Rey reprimanded herself, the fact that he was an Alpha didn’t mean he had a huge dick. That was a stereotype induced by stupid erotica novels written by Beta writers with an AO kink. Of course there was statistical evidence stating the odds of an Alpha being built in such as way was really really likely, but that didn’t mean Ben’s cock had to be some kind of ginormous, greedy, delicious monster. 

To be honest, even if it would have been as tiny as a pinky, she would have loved to - NOPE. Enough. 

She escaped bathroom as if she was running for her life, her breath uneven as she slammed the door of her room behind her and throw herself on her bed.

Damn. His smell still lingered in her nostrils, making her brain fuzzy and her mouth water. And her mouth wasn’t exactly her only body part that was watering right now. Dammit.

***

When Ben finally came home after a long day at school, he found himself in front of a scene that would have probably led his fourteen-year-old self into premature ejaculation on the spot. 

Rose was on the couch, watching TV without much of a care. The most unsettling thing was the figure beside her. 

Rey, still in her horrendous pajamas, was hugging Rose like a child would have hugged a teddy bear, her face nested against the Alpha girl’s neck, breathing in against the scent gland under her ear.

To be honest, the gesture didn’t appear sexual, but i his dick didn’t get the note, resulting in his pants becoming uneasily tight. 

Thanking God for the fact he was carrying under his arm possibly the ugliest diorama of the solar system ever made, Ben position it over his front, determined to hide what was probably the most inappropriate boner of his life.

“Don’t mind them,” Phasma greeted him from the corridor, making Ben almost jump out of his skin. “Rey just had a bad day for some reason. Alpha pheromones can be relaxing for an Omega if they’re not in heat and they’re not attracted to each other.”

“The more you know,” Ben muttered uneasily, looking away.

“Hey, Benny!” Rose greeted him from the couch, waving her hand. Rey joined her greeting with a distressed grunt and a brief gesture of acknowledgment. 

“H-hey,” the Alpha male replied, his mouth turning dry.

He strolled as casually as possible toward the corridor, carefully avoiding Rey’s gaze, only to meet Phasma’s along the way.

“So,” the tall blonde started, “a little obnoxious ginger bird told me that your birthday is this weekend.”

Ben rolled his eyes. Damn Hux. It was pretty clear that his new, improbable friendship with Phasma would come back to bite him in the ass at some point. They were getting along ridiculously well considering they were probably among the most difficult people Ben had ever met. It was like watching two Disney villains building up a whole evil league of their own, and it was honestly scary.

“So it seems,” he blurted out.

“Cool! Any plans?” Phasma asked, uncomfortably cheerful.

The truth was Ben had never been a fan of birthdays. He spent as many of them as possible on his own, as far away from civilization as he could get.

“I think I’ll go camping,” he explained, gingerly.

“Camping? Cool!” the tall blonde beamed at him. “Rey, Rosie, have you heard?” she asked, her voice raising louder. “We’re going camping this weekend!”

Ben closed his eyes, taking a deep, exasperated breath.

“Camping?” Rose asked, definitely perplexed, from the living room.

“God, why?” Rey whined. 

“It’s Benny’s birthday!” Phasma shouted. “ Stop being a pain in the ass!”

“I’m not a pain in the ass, I’m just saying it might be a shitty idea. Us, in the wilderness? I mean, look at us,” Rey explained, still on the couch. “It’s not like there are beer trees or coffee trees out there. How are we going to survive?”

Rose and Phasma sighed almost in unison, then chorused the same exact words:

“Asshole Jar!”

The Omega rolled her eyes, her hand searching inside her pocket.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I need to thank you all, especially my dear friend and Beta SageMcMae for the adorable response to this fic. I'm honestly honored by the amount of comments and kudos here <3 you gave me life <3


	6. Bunnies, Snakes and Koala Bears

Rey and Phasma weren’t exactly fans of camping, and Hux, well, it was like watching him face his nemesis.

 

Rose and Ben looked like they’d been doing this all their lives. They were well equipped and ready.

 

As Ben’s car finally stopped at the edge of the woods, the group disembarked appearing to have been chosen at random.

 

Phasma looked like she had a hard time searching for something casual in her wardrobe, while Hux didn’t even bother, and when his Oxford shoes and his carry-on suitcase landed on a thin layer of mud, the disgusted expression on his pale face was utterly priceless.

 

Rey wasn’t exactly a veteran of outdoor activities, growing up in foster care in Chicago hadn’t given her much of a chance. She was mostly a city animal, used to traffic noises at night and street lights coming in from the windows.

 

The place Ben selected for the trip was indeed beautiful. It was all lush, tall trees of an intense, nearly unbelievable green, the calm waters of a small lake brushing the pebbles on the shore. But was also a little bit too quiet.    
  
The birds singing casually in the background weren’t exactly what Rey was expecting, however, the general lack of city noises wouldn’t have been the only reason for her to remain desperately awake that night.

 

Right now her eyes were glued on a vision that probably had been put in front of her by a merciless god with an awful sense of humor.

 

The Alpha male roommate she had spent the last week trying not to think about was a few steps away, in an unprecedented flannel shirt, sleeves rolled up as his large, hulking frame knelt in front of the tent he had efficiently set up in minutes.

 

Rey thanked her choice to sit down on the grass, because she was pressing her legs together right now, to ease the tension in her core the vision had given her. If she had tried to do that while standing up, she probably would have like a helpless, horny penguin awkwardly waddling around. 

 

There was something primal and ridiculously appealing in watching an Alpha man building a shelter. It was a strictly biological response, but her vagina didn’t care about all the ethical recrimination or her need to consider herself an empowered Omega who needed no Alpha. 

 

The traitorous enemy between her legs didn’t give a shit, to be precise. It was too busy enjoying the view of Lumberjack-Ben doing stuff that was insanely manly for someone who usually spent most of his time looking uncomfortable, watching cartoons on TV, knitting, and singing.

 

Not that Ben wasn’t manly per se, just not in a conventional way. At least until now, and for some reason, her vagina loved it a little too much. 

 

She cleared her throat, trying to look away, and her eyes fell on Rose, quietly sitting beside her. 

 

For some reason her expression resembled Rey’s own. The tiny Alpha’s face was a bit flushed, her deep eyes full of barely hidden surprise and definitely darker than usual, slightly faster breaths coming in and out of her barely flared nostrils, her head tilted to the side.

 

_ What the hell? _

 

Rey followed the line of Rose’s gaze, totally incapable of imagining the object of her intense stare. When she found it, the young Omega woman had to force herself not to look too shocked.

 

While Ben appeared totally in his element, his Alpha side somehow dominating in the wild environment, Hux appeared like a fish out of water, obsessed by the need to be in control.

 

He was probably on his third attempt to put up the tent, ropes, and pickets thrown everywhere around him. There wasn’t the slightest resemblance of the ominous igloo form the tent was supposed to have.

 

He seemed to be completely helpless, and yet determined, his hair totally messed up and a frustrated look in his green eyes as he kept consulting the instruction manual for probably the fourth time.

 

“Rose?” Rey cleared her throat, hesitantly.   
  
The Alpha woman hummed in acknowledgment, unable to look away from the Omega male.

 

“Are you alright?”   
  
Rose nodded briefly. 

 

“Is it so weird. It’s like watching a cute, little, ginger bunny trying to get out of a trap,” the small Alpha murmured under her breath.

 

Rey raised her eyebrows.

 

“I wouldn’t call him cute, especially when he looks so helpless but-” Rey’s words suddenly stopped when the realization finally hit her.  _ Oh.  _ Well, it seemed only fair. If she, as an Omega, found Ben’s capacity to take care of stuff disturbingly attractive, Rose as an Alpha must have found Hux’s need for help attractive in the same way. After all, Alphas’ primal instinct was to take care of a possible partner, and he looked desperately in need of that, on various levels.   
  
Rey found herself snorting in amusement. 

 

“Why don’t you go there and help the ginger bunny out of that trap?” she suggested.

 

Rose bit her lower lip, hesitantly.

 

“You think it’s a good idea?”   
  
“Why not?” Rey shrugged. “Go ahead, be the hero that ginger bunny needs.”

 

***   
  
After a couple of hours, in which he had compulsively taken care of their camp, Ben finally allowed himself to sit down near the fire he had recently started, on to find no trace of Phasma. 

 

As his gaze traveled around, he came across a bizarre scene, one he hadn't even imagined, but there it was, on the other side of the clearing they had chosen to occupy for the evening. 

 

Rey handed him a beer, as he asked her, "What the hell am I looking at?"

 

Normally he would have been nervous to sit so close beside Rey, considering his undeniable crush, but he was too busy being shocked for her proximity to sink in.

 

Under his and Rey’s incredulous glare, Hux was sitting on a log, besides his now perfectly set tent. Rose sat on the ground between his skinny knees, covered in his ridiculously out-of-place tailored pants, her back to him as he carefully braided her long black hair, a weirdly content look on their faces.

 

“Yeah, so that happened at some point,” the young female Omega acknowledged hesitantly beside him.

 

Ben couldn’t help but be impressed, his brow knitted as his eyes remained glued on the unusual couple, or whatever they were.

 

“Well, she’s an Alpha, he’s an Omega, I suppose this kind of things can happen,” He murmured absently.

 

“Mh?” Rey hummed, taking a sip of her beer.

 

“I mean,” he cleared his throat, hesitantly, “it might happen to Omegas and Alphas to like each other.”

 

Ben noticed the young Omega’s shoulders tense for some reason. Damn, was he making her uncomfortable? Was she reading between the lines of his statement? _ Holy Fuck.  _ She may have thought was his way of hitting on her. Maybe she had figured out that he actually liked her _. OH GOD. _

 

“I mean, yeah,” he stuttered, his voice growing a little bit strained, “I-I don’t mean that it has to happen, or that it’s a good thing. I mean, it’s not exactly a bad thing but-” Gosh, why was he doing this to himself? Why couldn’t he just shut the hell up? “I mean. Good for them, I guess. But not because they would be a traditional AO couple. I mean, not that it’s a bad thing for them or something. I’m just happy my friends are getting along because I want them to be happy of course, cause I love my friends.”  _ Holy Baby Jesus, _ Ben had never hoped to be mauled to death by a  wild bear attack, but there was a first for everything. “But, yeah, in an absolutely friendly way, like friends who love...friends. Cause they’re my friends.”   
  
He witnessed in horror how Rey’s confused eyebrows raised by the second as he continued his ridiculous rant, his face growing furiously red as he struggled to stop. At some point he finally managed to shut his mouth, looking away. 

 

Rey, on the other hand, seemed perplexed.

 

“Maybe don’t start planning their wedding just yet, Benny, alright?” 

 

“Sure, I mean yeah,” Ben cleared his throat, helplessly, “I mean - Holy fuck!”    
  
As he spoke the male Alpha turned his stare to the couple on the other side of the clearing, noticing their figures entangled in the most heated make-out session he’d ever seen Hux involved with.

 

“Well, that escalated quickly,” he whined, covering his face with his huge hands.

 

He heard Rey gasp beside him.   
  
“What the fuck! It’s like watching a ginger boa constrictor attacking a tiny, Asian koala bear.”   
  
“Yup, but the koala bear is enjoying being attacked a little too much.”

 

“Oh, God. Can we take a walk? I’m pretty sure I don’t want to be here when clothes start to come off,”   
  
“God, yes.”

  
  


***

  
  


“Do you think it’s safe if I wash my retinas with acid?” Rey casually asked as they walked toward the lake. “Just in case,”

 

“I was thinking about trying acupuncture on my eyeballs,” Ben admitted, “but that might work too.”

 

Rey was about to nod in approval when a soft breeze brushed past them, gently carrying Ben’s scent far closer than he physically was.   
  
As her nostrils filled with the intense, lovely smell of him, she fought with the need to take a deep breath to enjoy it, even more, her pupils growing ridiculously larger.    
  
When the young woman spoke again, her voice sounded like a vaguely hysterical rasp.

 

“Pheromones, am I right?! Luckily not all of us behaves like our friends,” the statement was followed by the most dishonest giggle ever.

 

“Yeah, right,” Ben coughed, looking stiff all of a sudden.

 

As the finally reached the lake in awkward silence, Ben decided to sit on a large stone near the shore, curling up just enough to not feel cold.

 

“Woah, this place is actually really pretty,” Rey admitted, her eyes lost on the soft reflection of the sunset warming up the colors of the water.

 

“I used to come here with my parents when I was a kid,” Ben explained, “My dad loves places like this, and back then he loved them even more since my mother used to hate them.”   
  
“Not a nature fan, huh?”   
  
“She loves plants, but she’s mostly a greenhouse type. My father loved to watch her struggle with mud and leaves everywhere.”

 

“That sounds like a peculiar relationship,” Rey found herself chuckling,

 

“That’s probably one of the reasons why they’re not together anymore,” Ben admitted, shrugging.   
  
“Oh, shit.” Rey bit her lower lip, “I’m sorry,”   
  
“Don’t be. It’s definitely better this way,” the male Alpha assured her. “It’s not easy to grow up with two Alphas in the same house.”

 

“I was the only Omega at the foster home I grew up in,” Rey admitted, finding her place beside him on the flat rock. “They were all Betas in there. When I presented, nobody realized what happened and they only gave me some ibuprofen. The next year a new foster kid arrived. I was seventeen at the time, and he was a year younger. Like what happened to me, no one noticed he was an Alpha until the moment he presented. Long story short, he went into rut for the first time when I was around. He clearly wasn’t prepared for it. Out of nowhere, he basically tried to jump my bones and attempted to bit my gland, the poor bastard.”

 

“Damn,” was all Ben managed to say, looking at her with wide eyes

 

“It’s alright. I managed to keep him away. Years later, he contacted me on Facebook to apologize. He was totally clueless about his designation back then, but luckily he found a foster family nice enough to take care of him as an Alpha. He’s a good kid. He always sends me Christmas ecards and photos of his cats.”

 

“That’s the reason you have the tattoo on your gland?” For a long moment, Ben legitimately believed the question had remained safe in his thoughts, only to realize a second too late he had said it out loud. His face turned pale as a sheet, but luckily Rey didn’t appear hurt.

 

“Yes and no,” she murmured, her hand running instinctively to the back of her neck. “That particular moment gave me the idea for the tattoo. It served as the final nail in the coffin on my opinion about the whole mating matter.”

 

“What do you mean?”   
  
“You see, being an AO is mostly a hereditary thing. That means my biological parents were probably an AO couple. Human relationships are far too complicated to rely only on pheromones.” 

 

Rey sighed, her eyes lost in the quiet movements of the lake, “At some point, you might find out you are in a relationship with a stranger you don’t give two shits about, and you both have a kid none of you gives a shit about, all because your glands produced some biological trigger that made it impossible for you to keep it in your pants. When you look at the situation by my perspective, it’s pretty easy to understand mating is possibly the worst choice ever. We’re not in the middle ages anymore. It’s not like biting someone’s gland is a binding contract or anything. There’s no certainty in where a relationship could go, mated or not. One day you can be the happiest, horniest person in the universe, the next you can be thrown away like garbage,”

 

Ben found himself staring at her, his mouth reduced to a thin, sad line, his chest feeling incredibly heavy.

 

“You’re not garbage, Rey,” he murmured.

 

“Am I not?” she snorted, bitterly, “Aren’t we all?”   
  
“Well, most people are garbage, that’s true. But you’re not, Rey. I’m pretty sure of it,” 

 

She turned her eyes toward him, to find his incredibly warm, gentle ones gazing back at her.

 

“You’re very sweet, Benny,” she replied with a sad smile. “But it’s okay. I’m perfectly comfortable with what I am. Being alone is mostly a choice at this point, and it’s better for everyone. No one deserves a mess like me making their life a living hell.”

 

“Rey?”   
  
“Mh?”   
  
“Can I hug you?”

 

The young Omega’s brow knitted in surprise. As she took her time to respond, he shook his head nervously.

 

“Nevermind, it was a stupid question,” he admitted a bit too urgently, “I-”

 

“It depends.”

 

“...on what?”   
  
“Is this supposed to be a pity hug?”

 

“No, no, God, no,” Ben assured her. “It’s more like a friend hugging a friend because they don’t want this friend to feel alone, or worthless,”

 

Rey’s eyebrows raised. She would have been amused if the topic wasn’t so serious.

 

“So it’s definitely a pity hug,” she remarked.

 

Ben took a deep breath, taking in all the courage he could muster. He could barely remember the last time he had listened to what he used to call his  _ inner Alpha,  _ but this time he actually agreed with the voice repeating  _ Hug her, she needs you, hug the fuck out of that Omega, take care of her, do your fucking job,  _ no matter how primal it sounded.

 

“Semantics,” he replied with an unprecedented determination, giving her a shy smile. “You want this hug or not?”

 

Rey visibly hesitated for a minute. A part of her wanted that hug, damn, maybe even needed it. The other part was asking herself if she was able to handle being this close to his scent. Well, she really hoped so because in a sudden spark of pure, irrational boldness she found herself on his lap, his thighs feeling ridiculously massive and solid under hers, as she nestled her head under his chin.

 

“It’s just because I’m cold,” she muttered defensively, feeling him tense under her.

 

Ben cleared uneasily his throat, his hands shaking slightly as he circled her tiny frame. 

He found himself closing his eyes, his cheek resting on the top of her head, trying hard not to overthink, while his brain fought to meticulously analyze the whole situation. 

 

Omega girl he liked staying in his lap.  _ Check. _

 

The said Omega girl wanting to be hugged.  _ Check _

 

The said Omega girl smelling absolutely amazing. _ Check _

 

The said Omega needing him as a friend and nothing more…  _ Fuck. Check. _

 

Ben hated his life.

 


	7. Is that what I think it is?

After a brief moment, Rey found herself relaxing against him. God, he smelled so good that she almost felt dizzy, light as a feather, like she was just floating in a warm, cozy sea of Alphaness which felt too delicious not to drown in. 

Her arms instinctively encircled his torso, which felt imposing compared to hers. 

At this point, Ben had only two choices left: to act like a total jerk during a panic attack and just remain there, stiff as a board, or actually do his fucking best, relax and hug her like a decent, functional human being.

He focused, maybe a little too hard, on the latter, because in the next second he took a deep, calming breath, which was probably the most stupid mistake of his life.

As he inhaled the chilling air of the sunset, Rey’s tantalizing scent came in too. He struggled to keep his eyes open, the realization of how close she actually was kicking off the first of numerous dangerous reactions.

Compared to his shy, trembling grasp from mere moments before, his arms tightened around her forcefully. This wouldn’t have been a problem, per se, if it wasn’t for the soft hum that escaped his mouth against her hair.

The worst part, though, came right after. As her entrancing scent nested into his lungs, something started burning in his lower belly, escalating quickly into the worst enemy known to man: the awkward, inappropriate boner. 

Every inch of air flew out his chest as fast as possible. He tried to back off enough to not make things embarrassing while also trying to not make her feel rejected or unwanted, but he realized he was too late.

It was like Ben’s face couldn’t decide between turning red as a fire truck or pale as a sheet of paper.

The male Alpha found himself struggling to breathe, his mouth slack as his traitorous erection, animated by a vengeful conscience of its own, decided to poke gently but evidently against Rey’s thigh.

The Omega girl grew incredibly still against him.

“Ben?” Her voice murmured against his jacket, suddenly sounding tiny.

“Yeah?” He answered helplessly, his voice strained while he wished he could die on the spot.

“Is- Is it that what I think it is?” Rey queried, somehow sounding shocked and rational at the same time.

“I-” he swallowed thickly, his Adam’s apple bobbing desperately, “I’m afraid it is.”

“Oh.” 

Ben gathered all his strength to disentangle from her, his wide eyes full of panic as his hands raised over his head in a desperate attempt to not touch anything inappropriate. 

Yeah, like his hands were the problem. 

“I-I’m so sorry, Rey. I- I’m- This is disgusting,” He stuttered in horror, “I-I’m disgusting, I-”

His words died in this throat as soon as a new, yet incredibly familiar scent filled his nostrils. It aggressively attacked his senses from somewhere between them, making his mouth water.

It took him several seconds to realize why he was feeling even more aroused and why his overwhelming shame wasn’t forcing him to run away.

Then Ben felt it.

A warm, delicious damp spot forming on his upper thigh, just underneath her- Oh fuck.

His eyes glued to her face, as he realized Rey knew exactly what was going on, her freckled skin blushing furiously as her legs pressed together in a desperate attempt to hide the source of the wetness. It produced the opposite result as she ended up pressing forward her growing warmth against the fabric of his pants.

“Rey?” he swallowed, his voice trembling while he held back a moan.

“...Yeah?” she muttered hesitantly, her eyes huge and terrified as she looked at him.

“I-Is that what I think it is?” Ben mechanically repeated her own words from a few moments earlier, basically forgetting how to breathe. Of course, a part of him knew the answer already, but for some reason, he felt compelled to ask. 

The girl glanced away. The expression on Rey’s face made Ben believe human spontaneous combustion was actually possible. 

He had a pretty clear image in his head of what should come next. 

If they should have been a normal AO couple, not a dynamic duo of trauma and awful experiences, they probably would have ended up fucking senseless on the grass like millions of their ancestors before them. That would have been too easy, and Ben knew neither of them had ever been blessed with something so simple in their existence.

Besides, despite their bodies being clearly aroused enough for something like that, they were both too terrified to act on it.

“W-what do we do?” he grumbled uneasily.

“I think not sex is the best answer,” Rey hummed, meticulously avoiding his gaze.

“I agree, a hundred percent,” Ben conceded stiffly, not exactly convinced of his statement but sure enough that was exactly what she needed to hear. “Maybe we should… I don’t know, move apart a little? Being this close is not helping at all.”

Rey nodded furiously, but it took her more time than he expected to rise on her feet, her whole body more than determined to remain on Ben’s lap.

“O-okay,” the man swallowed thickly, fighting his instinct to grab her and keep her on his lap, his huge hands clenching helplessly at his sides. “M-maybe it’s a good idea if you move a few steps away now.”

She kept nodding, almost hysterically, her feet basically refusing to take her away from him.

“Why the fuck do you have to smell this good,” Rey muttered under her breath, her teeth clenched, as she backed away a little too slowly for his taste.

“What?” He whispered, eyes wide.

“Nothing,”

“Rey, I-” Ben sighed, one hand running into his hair, “I’m sorry this is happening,”

“Please, don’t touch your hair,” the girl begged, interrupting him and covering her face with her hands.

“What? Why?” 

“You really have amazing hair,” She pleaded in a frustrated whine, “I-It’s like watching porn when you touch your hair, I don’t know why my stupid brain is working like this, can you just...Stop?”

“Oh,” Ben’s eyebrows reached for his hairline. A part of him was almost flattered, but he actually managed to force his hands in his pocket. “Sure, sorry,”

“It’s not your fault,” Rey clarified uneasily, her eyes glued on her feet,

“It's not yours either,” he assured her while he focused on breathing with his mouth.

“And yet here we are,” the young Omega woman sighed in frustration. “We need to sort things out. This can’t interfere with our lives.”

“Yeah, right,” Ben nodded nervously, his shoulders rapidly stiffening, “We… We just need to ignore whatever this is.”

Rey’s eyes raised from her feet only enough to give him an eloquent look.

“I hope you realize that if it wasn’t for our suppressants, we won’t be having this polite conversation right now.”

Ben found himself staring at her with wide eyes, his Adam’s apple bobbing helplessly. 

“That’s probably true,” he admitted.

Rey sighed, her arms awkwardly encircling her torso as if she was trying to limit the free range of her own hands.

“Okay, there are two ways we can handle this,” she stated, the determination in her voice sounding ridiculously manufactured, “we can act like nothing happened and move on, or we can talk about this, rationally and convince ourselves that this is a shitty idea and move on,”

 

The young Omega was a bit surprised by herself. She was elaborating. She hated elaborating. Wow, Rose would have been so proud of her.

Ben nodded nervously, catching his hand before he brushed it through his hair and pushing it back in his pocket.

“Okay. Any indication on how to proceed?” he asked.

“Physical proximity is a bad idea,” Rey suggested.

“Definitely,.”

“So, no physical proximity, then.”

“Right.” 

“And open the window of the bathroom after you take a shower.”

“What?”

“Just do as I say, Ben, please?”

“O-okay.”

“And I don’t want the girls to know what’s happening,” the Omega continued. “They can be judgemental as hell.”

“... what’s happening?”

“The answer to this question is ‘Nothing is happening’.”

“O-okay,”

“And you know why nothing is happening, right Ben?” Rey replied anxiously, her voice trembling, “Because we’re friends, and we’re roommates, and if we give whatever this is any kind of space whatsoever, it will probably end in a disaster.”

Ben took a deep breath from his mouth, carefully avoiding using his nose so things wouldn’t become even more problematic.

“I know.”

“What if we fuck and then we end up hating each other?” the young Omega asked, “What if we fuck and one of us catches feelings and the other doesn’t? What if we fuck and we end up in a horrible, toxic relationship full of resentment and pain?”

“Can you just...Stop mention us fucking?” Ben quipped, his hands hugging his knees, while he unconsciously assumed the fetal position. “It’s not exactly helping matters.”

“Yeah, right, sorry,” Rey cleared her throat uneasily.

“I get it, Rey, seriously. You stated very clearly your opinion about this,” the Alpha male tried to not sound too disappointed as he spoke, “We need to find a solution though so that we’re sure this is not going to happen again. So, is there anything else besides not touching my hair in front of you and opening the window after I take a shower?”

“Yeah, don’t wear flannel.”

“Flannel?”

“Yeah, the whole Lumberjack vibe is killing me for some reason.”

Ben shot her a quite perplexed expression.

“Do I emit a… Lumberjack vibe, now?”

“You have no idea,” Rey admitted, “I’m constantly picturing you in that blasted shirt throwing me on your shoulder like a damn caveman and-”

“Rey!” Ben whined, “how is this supposed to help?”

“Sorry, I got carried away.”

“Yeah, I noticed.”

“Anyway,” she continued, “Do you have any requests? Things that I better not do in front of you?”

Been took a few seconds to think, his arms still around his knees as he bit his lip.

“Just… Don’t show your tattoo too much,”

“I have eleven tattoos, Ben, which one?”

A part of him wanted just to shout every one. Each and every one of them. 

“I-I think you know which one,” he admitted in a shy murmur, his eyes strategically staying clear of hers.

“Oh,” she nodded understandingly, as soon as the realization hit her, “Anything else?”

“I don’t know… Maybe no more shirtless True American?”

“Right, sorry about that.”

“Don’t worry. You nearly killed me that time.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Don’t mention it.”

“Well, maybe we just need to find a safe word.” Rey suggested, “In case one of us does something that the other might find too…tempting?”

Ben nodded.

“Good idea. What about avocado?”

 

***

 

Ben and Rey’s way back to the camp was silent. They both walked at least an arm’s length from another without saying a word.

Sometimes, between people as compatible as they unfortunately seemed to be, silence could have been comfortable, pleasurable even, like words weren’t needed to know how they were feeling.

Well, to be completely honest, part of that consideration was accurate. Both of them knew exactly how the other felt.

Aroused, embarrassed, scared, frustrated as hell.

That knowledge, however, didn’t help them perceive the lingering silence as pleasurable or comfortable, more like the opposite.

More like a nightmare come true. 

More like being trapped in a bus that was falling down a cliff.

More like being naked in front of the damn Congress of the United States.

It took most of their wordless way back for Ben to realize something he had missed up until that precise moment. 

The most uncomfortable conversation of his life, which happened only a few minutes prior, would have never occurred if it wasn’t for Rey liking him back, at least physically.

Rey. 

His damn roommate, he had spent a whole month pining over, somehow found him attractive.

She'd instantly clarified the idea of being attracted to him was appalling, but the fact she liked him remained the same.

Why wasn’t he feeling any better, then?

He knew he couldn’t blame Rey for her reaction, now that he knew where she came from.

To be fair, It was almost ironic. 

An Omega scared shitless of attachments and an Alpha as needy as a fucking toddler.

They would have made quite a couple. So much for designation stereotypes.

Too bad that would never happen.

As they finally entered the camp, they discovered the weirdest scene ever waiting for them.

The only trace of Rose and Hux was a gross trail of clothes smelling of sex that led to Hux’s tent.

In front of the campfire, Phasma was smoking her first cigarette in the last three months. Her fashionable outfit was covered in scratches and dirt, as were her hands and her pale, laconic face.

“What the hell happened to you?” Rey spoke, hurrying toward her friend.

“I had shit to do,” the tall blonde replied, totally expressionless, her eyes lost in the burning flames.

“You’ve been away for a long time,” Ben pointed out, joining them but ensuring he wasn’t too close to Rey, “Are you alright?”

“Damn, you look like shit,” Rey continued, “What the fuck?”

“Well, I don’t know if you noticed, but Ben’s birthday cake is missing,” Phasma remarked calmly. She acted as though she was casually sipping a beer on a stool in their favorite bar instead of sitting around a campfire in the damn forest in November, appearing to have just survived a bear attack.

“What does a cake have to do with you looking like this?” Rey kept asking.

“I saw a raccoon dragging the fucking box away,” the Alpha woman explained. “So I decided to fight that furry motherfucker and gain the cake back.”

“You fought a raccoon… for four hours?”

“It was a fast, furry motherfucker. It took me a lot of time to catch him.”

“God, what happened to the raccoon?” Ben muttered almost hesitantly.

“I don’t think you want to know,” Phasma admitted ominously, finally raising her glare from the fire to look at him.

“O-okay,” the Alpha man swallowed thickly.

“My only regret is that I didn’t manage to save the cake,” the blonde confessed with a deep sigh.

“It’s okay,” Ben reassured her, shrugging, “Believe me, I had worse birthdays than this.”

As he spoke he ignored Rey’s eyes, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t remember a birthday in which is heart had hurt so much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, I'm really stunned and honored by the absurd amount of support this fic is getting. 
> 
> Really, guys. I'm just speechless. You're all amazing, thank you so much. 
> 
> A special thanks of course goes to SageMcMae (wewantreylo on tumblr), amazing friend and extremely sweet and supportive Beta.
> 
>  
> 
> Feel free to say hi on my Tumblr: spiegatrixlestrange :D 
> 
> Thank you so much!


	8. Avocado

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, you know, sometimes you really need to scrap the bottom of the barrel to even think it's time to get back on your feet. 
> 
> This is basically me trying to say that this chapter is going to be tough.
> 
> Don't hate me, pretty please? <3 <3 <3 *blows kisses*

Ben spent the whole week before Thanksgiving asking himself what had possessed him to suggest ‘avocado’ as their safe word for when things got a little too hot. 

 

It took them a day and a half to turn the safeword into a damn nightmare. 

 

Everything was a potential trigger of very naughty thoughts.

 

He put his hair up to keep it away from his face, as he corrected a few papers: _Avocado._

 

He fixed the glasses on his nose: _Avocado._

 

He cooked an omelet: _Avocado._

 

He sang along with some heartbreaking rock ballad from the eighties behind the closed doors of his room: _Avocado._

 

The whole situation was rapidly getting out of hand. He wasn’t even free to eat a yogurt in the kitchen without feeling Rey’s flustered eyes on him.

 

Well, to be honest, his mind was also getting dirtier and dirtier by the moment and that wasn’t helping at all.

 

He found himself uttering their safeword quite often, sometimes without even realizing he had said it out loud.

 

Rey bending over the washing machine: _Avocado_.

 

Rey drinking from the milk carton: _Avocado._

 

Rey chilling on the couch watching cartoons: _Avocado, somehow._

 

Rey eating a damn burrito: _Avocado_.

 

Things were definitely getting out of hand. They appeared uncomfortable around each other, and Phasma and Rose were getting increasingly suspicious of their tense interactions.    
  
None of them had actually brought up the sudden, constant mention of avocados but it was pretty easy to notice their perplexed faces.

 

In other words, the whole ‘ _Avocado Agreement_ ’ wasn’t working at all. All it did was make them more frustrated by the day. As if the whole situation wasn’t stressful enough, Thanksgiving was only a couple of days away, and his mom, Amylin and (he hoped not) Kaydel were on their way.

 

The whole situation escalated to an unprecedented level the night before Thanksgiving. 

 

Ben woke to the sound of knocking on his door. After a brief, grumpy glance at his phone, he realized it was almost two in the morning. 

 

“What?” he grumbled absently, still half asleep.    
  
As the door opened, he noticed Rey’s lean figure sneak into his room. He turned on the light on his nightstand, only to notice the young Omega wearing nothing but a huge Nirvana shirt which barely reached past her thighs. 

 

_ What the fuck? _

 

He looked down in an instant, forcing his sleepy eyes away from her toned, naked legs.

 

“Avocado, Avocado, Avocado!” He uttered in frustration, smashing a pillow against his face, “Don’t you have something,  _ anything _ to put on?”

 

Rey seemed to think it was a good idea to ignore his plea because then she was closing the door and marching toward his bed with unusual determination.

 

“Ben, can we talk?” she asked.

 

“We need to talk at two in the morning? In my bedroom? With you dressed, oh, I’m sorry, undressed like that?” the Alpha whined, assuming a desperate fetal position on the side of the bed.

 

The young Omega cleared her throat.

 

“Can you focus just for a minute?” she asked nervously, as she carefully sat on the opposite side of the mattress. 

 

Ben took a moment to mentally question where his emergency suppressant pen-injector was, just in case. Once he realized it was safely on his nightstand, he allowed himself to relax a little, slowly lowering the pillow away from his face.

 

“Well,” He swallowed, forcing his stare on her face, “what do you need to talk about,”   
  
“Ben, it’s pretty safe to say that the avocado agreement is not working,” the girl announced stiffly, “we spend the whole day screaming that damn word out loud and I can’t see any kind of improvement here. We need to find another solution,”

 

“I agree,” the man huffed, “You got any suggestions?”

 

“Well, I do, actually,” the girl replied nonchalantly “What is your opinion of _meaningless sex_?”

 

Ben’s choice reaction required a glass of water so he could spit everywhere. It would have been the perfect comedic outcome, but his shocked face was quite hilarious on its own.

 

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

 

“See, I know myself pretty well. This is not going to get any better, trust me,” Rey’s hands raised defensively in front of her, as if in mock surrender. “So I was thinking, that maybe fucking whatever this is out of our system might actually work. It usually works so…”   
  
“Last week, you were the one who said sex was the worst idea ever,” Ben pointed out, his eyes wide.

 

“I know, I know!” the young Omega whined, “But the safeword is doing nothing to help us, and I honestly believe nothing is going to make thing worse.”

 

“How romantic,” the male Alpha grumbled. 

 

“I know, I know,” to be fair, Rey appeared genuinely sorry, “But at this point, would you consider giving my solution a chance?”

 

“And your solution would be…”   
  
“Meaningless sex. Just to ease this ridiculous tension. One time thing, never mentioning it again.”

 

Ben found himself biting his lower lip savagely Trying to deny the fact that the proposal sounded ridiculously appealing, would have been pointless. 

 

But he knew himself. 

 

He wasn’t exactly the one-night-stand type. Even if his Alpha nature compelled him to take care of Rey’s needs, no matter how self-destructive it was for him, a very tiny, desperately rational part of his brain was screaming _THIS IS A TERRIBLE IDEA_ at the top of its lungs.

 

“O-okay,” The male Alpha murmured cautiously, “care to elaborate a little more?”

 

“Well, when an Alpha and an Omega really like each other…” 

 

“I think I’m aware of the particulars, Rey, thank you.” he sighed, “I mean, why did you change your mind? How is having sex a good idea all of a sudden?”

 

The young woman lowered her gaze, suddenly self-conscious.

 

“I-I just thought it could be a turning point. Maybe doing something about this tension between us could actually help but,” She hesitated, “it's just my opinion, I won’t pressure you into anything you don’t want.”

 

“I don’t want?” Ben huffed nervously, his huge hands covering his face, “Rey, I’ve literally spent the last five days shouting _Avocado_ like a damn idiot twenty times a day. This is clearly not about what I do want. You know exactly what I want.”

 

“O-Okay,” Rey swallowed thickly, “So…”

 

“So, Rey, this is only partially about me,” he pointed out, “Do you think that, whatever this is, giving in, even if it’s only once, will actually help?”   
  
“I-I think it could.”   
  
“Are you sure?”   
  
“I think I am.”   
  
“I need something more than that. I’ll ask again. Are you sure?”   
  
“I am.”

 

Ben allowed himself to breathe again, relieved by her answer, his inner Alpha making something between a triumphal dance and a high-five to itself. 

 

Normally he would have over thought whatever was happening, he would have kept asking himself if this was the right thing to do, but from the moment her scent filled his nostrils, mingling with his in the small space of his room, he realized that, just for once, he didn’t give a damn. 

 

The male Alpha wasn’t exactly sure when his hands decided to move on their own accord. All his mind registered at that moment, were his long arms outstretched toward Rey, grabbing her waist, quite unceremoniously for his standards, dragging her on top of him in a swift, smooth motion. It felt incredibly unusual and totally natural at the same time.

 

The young woman squealed in evident surprise, but her body didn’t stiffen at all, quite the opposite. His sudden proximity caused her skin to grow warmer against his while he caged her against his solid, massive form.

 

His face found instantly the perfect place on her neck, nuzzling the scent gland like a man possessed. His ministrations obtained a shocked gasp in return.

 

In a second her hands were in his hair, as if, somehow, this had been her plan all along. Rey’s head tilted to the side, granting him further access to her neck as her short nails started brushing against his scalp, gaining a low rumble of appreciation.

 

They weren’t even kissing and Rey’s breath was already a mess, his scent definitely overwhelming her. 

 

Despite her wish to make this as practical and efficient as possible, the young Omega lost her train of thought as soon as she felt his huge arms cradling her closer to him on his lap.  His damn full lips brushed against the scent gland under her ear. He flicked his tongue over the sensitive area, the tiniest, softest kitty licks making her jolt, her whole body shivering in surprise.

 

“You smell so good.” Ben was not in the position to give his best speech at the moment, too overwhelmed by her proximity to focus on words.

 

His compliment was repaid with an ecstatic whimper as Rey found herself moving against him, her shivering form now searching for much-needed friction against his crotch. 

 

At that point, Ben’s reaction was unprecedented, the sudden push against his hard length making him roar against the skin of her neck.    
  
An arm firmly encircled her waist and in one swift, sudden motion he was on top,  slamming her leaner figure on the mattress under his much larger one. 

 

“Oh,” Rey murmured, breathless. “I didn’t see that coming,”

 

His initial response was a mere questioning hum against her skin.

 

“You being… Like this.”

 

“Like what?”

 

“Ben,” Rey had to pay attention a lot to be able to articulate a complete sentence, while her body kept melting into a puddle or arousement under him, “You’re… Far bolder than I imagined, in this department.” 

 

She could hear Ben chuckle softly, his hips teasing her with a smooth, gentle thrust against her still dressed core. “Is that a problem?” he asked.

 

“Oh, hell no,” she admitted, her legs encircling his hips. 

 

Ben’s heart seemed on the edge of explosion. He still couldn’t believe that the girl he had pined after for weeks was somehow in his bed, despite all the efforts to keep their relationship platonic.

 

In a way, he was glad they failed. 

 

Maybe this was his chance. His chance to make Rey feel that she could be loved, that he actually cared about her, that she wasn’t alone despite what her fear and loneliness made her believe.

 

It was a rare occurrence, but Ben and his Inner Alpha seemed to be in perfect harmony, both of them firmly determined to make this moment special. He would make his first time with Rey, the first of many he hoped despite the premises, unforgettable, heartwarming and _indeed_ special.

 

He would take good care of her, he would prove to her that there was goodness in the universe, and he would prove that in the most passionate, _horny_ way possible.

 

His hand moved from her hips to cradle her face, his huge thumbs gently brushing along her freckled, flushed cheeks as a secret, undeniable smiled appeared on his face. 

 

He was about to close his eyes, his full lips descending to meet hers when he noticed a sudden skeptic expression appearing on her pretty face, her brow knitting.

 

“Ahm,” The Omega muttered, her voice a bit hoarse “What are you doing?”

 

Ben froze on the spot, shooting her a confused look.

 

“Kissing you?” he blurted out, stunned.

 

Rey cringed at his statement, her face holding back a self-conscious wince.

 

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she murmured.

 

Ben’s eyes widened, his whole figure growing stiff above hers.

 

“Excuse me?”

 

“You know… It would feel a bit… Too personal,” she confessed, clearing her throat.

 

“... So I can’t kiss you, but we should have sex,” he deduced, his eyebrows raising for his hairline.

 

“Well, yes but… It’s not the same thing,”   
  


“What, sex is _not_ personal?”   


  
“Well, not in the same way,”

 

“So I assume that whatever is considered personal is a bad thing,”

 

“Well, yeah,” 

 

Ben sighed deep and long. No matter how entrancing her smell was at the moment, no matter how warm and soft her skin was against his, continuing whatever that was wouldn’t have done any favors to either of them. 

 

He disentangled her legs from his hips as tenderly as possible, a bitter expression appearing on his face, as he moved off of her.

 

“Ben… What?” the girl seemed speechless at his reaction, 

 

“Rey, this is not going to work for me.”   
  


“What?” Rey was shocked by his statement, her chest heaving helplessly, her face still flushed. “I thought we both agreed that easing the tension would have been a good idea.”

 

Ben’s massive figure fell on the mattress beside her, his eyes looking to the ceiling as he took a deep breath. “This doesn’t mean that we need to treat each other like objects, Rey. I’m not that kind of person, I just can’t.”

 

The young Omega propped up on her elbows, giving him a stunned look as she spoke.

 

“It’s not like that, I had no intention of treating you like an object. I merely wanted to find a solution to our problem!”

 

His full mouth contracted in a thin line, and for a moment Rey firmly believed Ben didn’t want to look at her.

 

“You see, Rey, I get it. I get that you’re scared and the world has been mean to you. I get it and I’m sorry,” His voice seemed pained, and yet firm, “but for most people finding someone that likes you back is not a problem to solve. For most people having someone who likes you back is a blessing, not a curse.”   
  
Rey’s figure stiffened as she rose from the bed, her arms enveloping her torso.

 

“I’m sorry I’m not most people, then,” she quipped, her voice sounding hurt, and sharp.

 

“I would never ask you to be something that you’re not,” Ben admitted in a deep sigh, “I care about you, and I don’t want you to be scared of something that could actually make you happy.”

 

The last words must have sounded like an insult to her, because she was looking at him with wide eyes, mouth went slack.

 

“How generous of you. And currently my path to happiness involves your dick, I guess?”

 

Ben finally turned his head toward her, he was shocked and hurt.

 

“Rey, are you serious?” He argued, “If my dick was the main issue here, we would be fucking right now,”

 

The truth must have stung a little too much because the Omega raised herself off the bed,

 

“Maybe I should go back to my room,” she hissed, her eyes glued on her feet.

 

“Maybe you should,”  Ben agreed, bitterly.

 

Rey stormed through the door without a second glance at him. All he heard was a mumbled “This was a stupid idea,” before she left, his heavy breathing the only sound remaining in the room still filled with her scent.

  
  
  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A special thanks go to my amazing Beta SageMcMae and to the delightful nest of sin that is the sprints and drabbles section of the Writing then, for always listening to my awkward rambling about this silly story <3 Love you all, guys <3


	9. Ancient Greece really was a Mess

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's have a tiny bit of self-realization, shall we?

 

Rey woke up on Thanksgiving morning with an annoyed wince and the clear sensation she had nothing to be thankful about. 

 

Her general uneasiness was due to the fact that her goofy attempt of fixing things with Ben, and by fixing she meant trying to convince him that meaningless sex was an excellent idea to solve once and for all their phenomenal impasse, had ended up with Ben looking at her with hurt puppy eyes which had made her feel like shit.

 

Well, Benny wasn’t exactly the casual-sex type, but that didn’t mean her attempt hadn’t been sincere.    
  
Regardless, Rey really wanted to solve things with him. After all, she cared about that stupid long face for some reason, even if she was currently mad at him.

 

Mad for what? Well, excellent question, because apparently Rey didn’t know the exact reason for her resentment.

 

Why did things had to be complicated with Ben? A guy’s mind wasn’t supposed to be that complicated. 

 

What adult male in his right mind, no matter if Alpha, Beta or Omega, could refuse a night of sex with a woman he was attracted to?    
  
It didn’t make any sense. 

 

“I mean, am I taking crazy pills or something?” The young Omega asked casually from her usual spot on her favorite park bench. “I mean, what could be better than having random sex? Everyone likes sex. The more casual, the better. I mean, if you keep it casual, you can always have other casual sex with other people.”   
  
Her usual park buddy, the Bearded Guy, who never talked while doing yoga, gave her a skeptical glare from his tree pose.

 

“What?” Rey quipped, defensively, only to gain a glare of disapproval.

 

“Buddy, you’re a sixty-something-year-old guy doing barefoot yoga in the park. You were probably conceived during the summer of love. Don’t be such a prude.”

 

The only reaction she gained was the guy’s blue eyes rolling in frustration.

 

“Oh, come on,” She insisted “How can this not be the point? We’re humans. Humans fuck. That’s what we do! What could be better than sex without consequences?”

 

As she obtained another displeased glower, the young Omega sighed in frustration.

 

“Hey, I’m not pulling the conclusions out of my ass. I know people. In fact, I know people and how they usually interact with me, and by people I mean guys. If they’re interested, and that’s rare per se, they usually are more than okay with just the physical part. Besides, my roommate is really a nice guy, and I’m not what he needs in the long term. Don’t look at me like that! I know that he’s an adult and he knows what he wants but,” the Omega hesitated, biting her lower lip, “What?”   
  
The look that the Bearded Guy was giving her was quite eloquent, eloquent enough to make Rey swallow nervously, averting her eyes.

 

“I’m not trying to run. There’s nothing to run from.”   
  
If possible, the guy’s stare became even more intense.

  
“I mean, I’m doing this for his own good. He’s from a dysfunctional relationship. He doesn’t need a mess like me in his life.”

 

After another long, judgemental look, Rey just sighed, resigned.

 

“I’m making a mess already. Right?”

 

The Bearded Guy replied with an exasperated nod, and the young Omega found herself with her hands in her hair, lowering her gaze.

 

“You know, I just wanted to protect him… from this,” she explained, her finger pointing carelessly at herself, “but I ended up hurting him all the same.”

  
  


***   
  
By the time Rey arrived home, she was almost numb due to the intense confusion her visit to the park had left her with.

 

Yeah, because as if the situation hadn’t been problematic enough, her one-sided confrontation with her silent bearded friend had dragged her into a whole new, incredibly uncomfortable train of thought.

 

Rey had never been particularly brilliant at school, mostly because she didn’t care enough back then. After all, she had no parents to please so who would have been proud of her accomplishments? Why bother?

 

Anyway.

 

But for some reason, a story she had heard back then in a literature class came to mind.    
  
She forgot most of the details, but she remembered the general plot.

There was a super-pompous king in a town, God-knows-where, in ancient Greece. This guy really wanted to have a kid, but he and his wife had some trouble conceiving.   
  
When she finally did get pregnant, a damn prophet, who apparently had nothing better to do, told the king that his son, the kid he had spent years wishing for, would end up killing him and fucking his wife, yeah, his own mother. 

 

Gross.

 

Ew. Eww. Ewwwww.

 

But that was not the point. The point was that the kid was sent away to make sure that he may never met his father, so that he would have never ended up killing him and doing Lannister-level shit with his mom.

 

The problem was that twenty years later, as the king was hanging out somewhere in the countryside, he ended up being killed by a random guy who ended up taking his place as king and marrying his wife.

 

News flash, since life sucked, even in ancient Greece, apparently the guy ended up being the kid they had sent away many years earlier. 

 

What was the moral of the story? 

 

According to Rey’s opinion, there were many.

 

First of all, being right most of time sucked.   
  
Second of all, being into older people might end up in really unfortunate coincidences.

 

Third, you really shouldn’t marry the guy who kills your husband.

 

And fourth, she realized just now, you may find yourself elbow-deep in the shit you were trying to avoid just because of the efforts to not make it happen.

 

Which was exactly what had happened with Ben.

 

Because of course, being the totally chicken that she was, as soon as she had realized how much his stupid, adorable long face meant to her, how actually caring and lovely and fluffy that giant dork of an Alpha was, her first response was to moonwalk the fuck out of there. 

 

But not just that, of course not,  Rey hadn't only moonwalked out. She also irrevocably fucked up.

Yeah, because it wasn’t enough to deny herself the possibility of building something real with Ben, she had to drag him in her spiral of self-destruction.

 

_ Go big or go home _ , as they say.

 

At first, despite their evident attraction, Rey had decided that nothing could happen between them.

 

The reason was pretty simple, and it went beyond the usual bunch of bullshit she told herself: she was scared shitless.

 

Scared shitless of not being enough for the sweet, kind, sensitive six-foot-three puppy she shared her apartment with.

 

After all, how could a frustrated, unaccomplished individual, stuck in a dead-end job be enough for someone who didn’t actually suck?

 

Yeah, she had stopped their thing before it started, for his own good, one hundred percent.

 

Or at least she could have kept telling herself that, until her stupid glands had decided to take over, convincing her it was a good idea to ask a guy that seemed born by the wicked mind of the most cheesy Rom-Com writer of all time (He even knitted, for Christ’s sake) to have some meaningless sex, just because.

 

What the fuck was that idea, anyway?

 

Now she knew perfectly well what had happened. The truth was, Rey kept telling herself that she needed to save Ben. 

 

Meaningless sex would have proved she was nothing special, that he could have had so much more than her. Of course, that was only partially why she’d done it.

 

The truth was the only person she desperately needed to convince was herself.

 

Because, c’mon, an Alpha and Omega ending up together and being happy was the stuff of cheap novels you could buy at the Grocery Store for a couple of bucks. 

 

Things like that never happened in real life, especially to her. 

 

What annoyed her most though, was how she had dragged Ben into this. 

 

Her attempt to keep him away had ended up with him being hurt by her foolhardy attempt to protect him.

 

Fuck. She had hurt Ben. 

 

Rey found herself cringing, incredibly tempted to hate herself even more for that.

 

Because yeah, maybe she didn’t deserve Ben, he was clearly too good for her, but he didn’t deserve to get hurt in the process.

 

Which was exactly what she had done. Excellent. Bravo.

 

The award for asshole of the year goes to Rey Niima.

 

She needed to find a solution, and she needed to find it now, not for herself, but for Ben. Ben deserved so much better than this. Rey needed to make it up to him.

 

Not that she had any idea how, but something had to be done.

 

She was about to enter the apartment, when the door opened dramatically in front of her.Standing the doorway was the slightly creepy figure of Hux, dressed in one of Rose’s aprons (thankfully he had clothes on underneath) and scowling severely at Rey, his jaw clenched.

 

“Oh, hey Armie,” Rey greeted him joylessly.

 

“What did you do?” the Omega male asked sharply.

 

Rey froze on the spot.

 

“What are you talking about?” she cleared her throat, nonchalantly.

 

“I entered Ben’s room this morning,” Armitage explained coldly. “The room smelled like you, and he was hiding in a nest of blankets, refusing to come out while singing Cindy Lauper.”

 

“Girls Just Want to Have Fun?” Rey asked hopefully.

 

“Time after time.” Hux pointed out with a wince.

 

“Fuck,”

 

“Yeah, fuck indeed,” the ginger sighed deeply, pinching the ridge of his nose, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

 

Rey took a shy, defensive step back, knitting her brow.

 

“Armitage, not to be rude, but I’m not sure this is any of your business. This is between Ben and I.”

 

“Of course it is! I won’t accept this kind of excuse from you, Rey,” the male Omega insisted. “You’ve met him for two days when you decided to fight Bazine. I’ve known him for more than a decade, and he’s really feeling like shit.”

 

“Listen,” the young woman sighed, “I’m not Bazine. I’ve got this.”

 

“You better,” Hux remarked. “I’m not sure I want to know what happened exactly, but if you don’t fix this, the girls are going to kick your ass. They’ve warned you.”   
  
“That was a private conversation!”   
  
“Maybe next time don’t shout your private conversation in the kitchen, while I’m sleeping on the couch.”

 

Rey just rolled her eyes, trying to walk past him and into her apartment.

 

“I’ll talk to him, as soon as I see him, Don’t worry,”   
  
“Maybe not just yet,” Hux stopped her. “His mom just arrived,”

 

***   
  
  
Rey vaguely remembered  how Ben had mentioned that his mom and her girlfriend were joining them for Thanksgiving. As the famous AO activist Leia Organa was looking at her with an incredibly wide smile, Rey was suddenly afraid she might have screwed things up even more. 

 

To be honest, the woman was nothing like Rey had imagined her. The young Omega had pictured Leia as tall and imposing, considering the huge-ass fluffy buffalo she had for a son, but Mrs.Organa was actually tiny, almost as tiny as Rose, with skinny, long limbs covered in new-age bracelets and large hips. 

 

“You must be Rey!” the older woman greeted her with open arms and a huge grin.

 

It took Rey a couple of seconds to realize, the woman expected a hug.

 

Uh. Okay.

 

As she got squeezed by the older woman, her eyes inevitably fell on the pale figure of Ben next to them.

 

The apron he was wearing matched his mom’s. It was of a ridiculous shade of yellow and an embarrassing “Kiss the Alpha” was printed on the upper part, which, for the record, covered Leia’s torso just fine but protected very little of his much larger frame.

 

He wasn’t looking at her, apparently too busy taking care of the mashed potatoes to give her a moment’s consideration.

 

“I’m Ben’s mom. Please call me Leia,” the older Alpha beamed at her, “And this is my mate, Amilyn,” 

 

Another woman, definitely an Omega, considering her scent, greeted Rey with an even warmer hug. The older woman offered her a giant smile, blue eyes scrutinizing her intently, under wild waves of purple hair.

 

Amilyn’t long fingers reached for her cheeks. For Rey, the a gesture was a bit creepy, but it would may have been quite normal if she was used to familial interactions.

 

“Look at you,” the older Omega’s voice sounded incredibly relaxed, matching her general new-age look, “You’re beautiful!”

 

“Oh, thank you,” Rey muttered quietly, while Amilyn’s hands remained on her cheeks.

 

“Oh, congrats, Benjamin,” the purple-haired lady continued kindly, “She really is lovely You’re so lucky,”   
  
“Wait, what?!” Rey squealed helplessly, her eyes widening.

 

By the sound she heard from the kitchen counter, Rey was half-sure that Phasma was choking and Ben had probably crushed the small bowl he was holding.

 

“Ahm, no, Amilyn.” She heard him stutter. “Rey and I are not-”   
  
“Oh, I’m sorry, dear,” the older Omega apologized instantly. “She smells a bit like you, so…” 

 

Rey could clearly see Hux slamming his palm against his pale face, while Rose murmured a quite eloquent, “What the-”

 

As Amilyn’s hands left her cheeks though, the young Omega felt them burning in shame as she found Mrs. Organa’s stare on her.

 

She didn’t appear upset, quite the opposite. 

 

Leia’s eyebrows raised almost to her hairline, beaming with the most proud smile Rey had ever received, then her attention turned to her son, her brow knitting.

 

“Why not?”   
  
Rey could pinpoint the exact moment in which Ben paled and the ‘I-wish-I-were-dead’ expression contorted his face.  

“Why not what?” he almost hissed.

 

“Well, I mean, she’s pretty. She’s an Omega-”   
  
“Mom!” the male Alpha shouted, despair leaking from his voice, “Can we not discuss this now?”   
  
“Why not?” Leia asked nonchalantly, shrugging. “Activists like me and Amilyn had fought for decades so that us AO don’t have to  be ashamed of who we are and of how our bodies work. I didn’t raise you to be such a prude, Ben.”   
  
“This has nothing to do with ideology, mom!” He whined, and for a moment the six-foot-three man, who was as large as a wardrobe, looked incredibly young, like an awkward teenager rebelling against his mother, “It’ just, It’s- Dammit, this is private, and Thanksgiving dinner is not the damn place to discuss it.”

 

“It’s not like there’s much to discuss,” his mother insisted. “The best part about AO social interaction regarding mating is the fact that there is no discussion needed. Complicating things with overthinking is a Beta thing. You would know that if you weren’t filled with Alpha guilt. The fact that you feel compelled to behave like a Beta doesn’t mean it’s going to work for you.”

 

“Leia, maybe we can discuss this later?” Amilyn offered hopefully.

 

“Oh, no, do go on. This is priceless,” Phasma muttered from beside the oven.

 

Rey was speechless, mouth slack and eyes frantically scanning the group of people in her apartment.

 

“There’s nothing much to discuss,” Leia offered, tilting her head. “If Rey smells like Ben, it means something’s already happened, and since I know my son, he’s probably the one who chickened out. Ben, please, listen to me. It’s unhealthy to not get in touch with your sensations.”   
  
“For Christ’s sake, mom! Can you please shut up?!” The male Alpha scoffed, fist clenched around a wooden spoon.

 

“Alright, alright!” The woman sighed. “You’re always so touchy.”

 

Ben was about to reply when the doorbell rang, the sudden noise startling everyone. 

 

Rey murmured a barely audible “Thank God,” before bolting toward the door, before she realized Ben’s heavy steps were swiftly following hers.

 

She wasn’t exactly eager to comment on the recent conversation topic, but apparently Ben didn’t feel the same.

 

“Rey, listen,” he hesitated, swallowing, “I-I’m sorry. My mom is… We have a complex relationship. I’m sorry you got caught in the middle,”

 

“It’s alright,” the young Omega replied stiffly, as they reached for the door. 

 

The doorbell was ringing insistently, and Rey finally opened the door, with Ben directly  behind her. The stranger on the other side gave her a disturbingly charismatic smile. 

 

The man was probably at the end of his sixties, but was one of those lucky bastards who haven’t lost a strand of hair or a hint of charm despite his age. 

 

He was still tall, and quite broad too, thick silver hair cut short, but not buzzed and wearing a smug grin.   
  
Rey instantly recognized that he smelled pretty good. He definitely smelled like Alpha, his scent reminding her of Ben’s, for some reason.

 

“Well, hello there,” the newcomer greeted them.

 

Rey felt Ben tense behind her.

 

“Dad, what are you doing here?”

 


	10. Pat Benatar Knows Best

Ben Solo hadn’t exactly been the easiest teenager around. 

He wasn’t a rebel, or the most hostile, but he surely was the worst at communicating. 

After all, living in close proximity with two other Alphas when your designation decided to present wasn’t easy.

His parents were already too loud and too dominant to throw more loudness and dominance in the picture. 

Ben had hoped that by being silent enough, and not assertive, nobody would notice that he was actually a giant, complicated Alpha with Alpha needs and everyone would just leave him alone.

Even now as a grown-up, Ben sometimes found himself hoping his problems would disappear, if only he remained still like a dead opossum on the side of the road.

And just like that, he found himself stuck in front of the door, every muscle completely still, as his father appeared in front of him. 

“I decided to stop by. My flight doesn’t depart for the next six hours and I wanted to check on my young man, alone in the big city,” Han Solo, his father, and well-known troublemaker proclaimed with one of his snarky half-smiles. “ And who is this precious little cupcake?”

It took Ben a couple of seconds to realize he was referring to Rey. 

The young Omega beside him seemed paralyzed.

“I-I’m Rey,” she stuttered briefly. 

“Oh, hello sunshine,” he replied. “I’m Han, Ben’s far too charming dad. I’m sorry if I’m just now finding out about your existence or some reason, my son isn’t too eager to inform his old man about girlfriends,”

“Oh-” Ben swallowed nervously, “She’s not-, We-we’re not together,”

Han’s grey eyebrows raised in surprise.

“Well, she does smell a bit like you so...” Solo senior pointed out, “I just assumed.”

“Yeah, we know,” Ben and Rey found themselves raising their voices in unison. “But there’s no such thing. No, not happening,” the younger Alpha male continued nervously. “We just did the laundry together and our scents got all mixed up.”

“Yeah, yeah, exactly,” Rey nodded frantically beside Ben, with an unconvincing expression stuck on her face.

“Yeah, right, laundry, of course,” Han didn’t even bother to pretend he believed them, not in the slightest. His attention latched onto one relevant piece of information. “This means this lovely cupcake is single? Asking for a friend, of course,”

Rey appeared too shocked to reply, as Ben kept searching for the politest way to force his father to back off. Then they heard a voice from the kitchen.

“Is everything alright, guys?” Leia asked, her head peeking out from behind the kitchen door.

“Shit.” Han hissed.

Leia’s kind, reassuring expression turned into a disgusted wince. “What the hell is he doing here?”

“I’m here to visit our son, Princess,” Han raised his hands defensively, “It’s not like you made him on your own.”

The older Alpha woman’s eyes rolled in disdain.

“Don’t tell me about it.”

***

The Cold War must have been a piece of cake compared to the situation in their kitchen, or at least that’s how Ben felt. 

Not that he was old enough to remember the Cold War, he was born the year before the fall of the Berlin Wall, but when he studied the time period he had always imagined it like the softer version of the silent treatment his parents sometimes gave each other.

Han had arrived less than thirty minutes ago and the situation had already become ridiculously tense.

Rose, Hux, Phasma, and Amilyn decided the turkey deserved their unconditional attention, while Rey (ever the bartender) went around offering beer to everyone because some dynamics could only improve with alcohol. 

If Ben’s current predicament wasn’t embarrassing enough, Han was determined to be his most charming self. He shamelessly hit on Rey, probably to piss off Leia, or Ben, or maybe both.

Leia was hell-bent on ignoring him, mashing the potatoes forcefully, while Ben opted for his usual tactic. He settled himself down on the couch to watch the game, while a vein on his forehead pulsed helplessly every time his father said something cheesy to Rey.

God, he was the living embodiment of a damn cartoon right now. Even if he had figured out how to deal with the Rey situation (which he hadn't), he was more concerned about how long he'd be able to maintain a face of calm in the presence of his obnoxious family.

 

***

 

In the handful of times Ben saw his parents in the same room after their divorce, he noticed a pattern. 

They usually started out ignoring each other, before carefully searching for the smallest trigger possible, generally provided by Han, so they had an excuse to end up arguing.

The initial argument could have been about anything, really.

“You’re seasoning the steak wrong.”

“This is not the way to fix a remote.”

“Who decided you could pick the music?”

Only a few minutes after that, things escalated, with an object being thrown around, doors slamming and recriminations screamed at the top of their lungs, usually about how Leia believed herself to be better than everyone else or how Han was a complete, unreliable asshole. 

Both observations were at least partially true. 

But their favorite topic, by far, was their son. Ben was feeling somewhat religious about it since his primal instinct was to pray to whatever entity was listening not to let things escalate to that point today.

He wasn’t particularly eager for Rey to listen to his father blaming Leia for Ben’s lack of “Alpha masculinity”, while Leia accused him of being the most ridiculous and absent father figure ever.

Not even Amilyn, with her doctorate in AO cognitive psychology, seemed to be enough to stop the madness. 

It was like watching an explosion waiting to happen. 

The more Leia gave Han outraged side glances, the more his father complimented Rey, making a joke about her tattoos or giving her a mischievous wink, as she handed him another beer.

The young Omega actually seemed a bit stunned. Not exactly uncomfortable, but not relaxed. Of course, as she had explained many times, she was used to handling unwanted attention. Still, his father’s attentions weren’t making things better.

At this point, Ben’s inner-Alpha was basically screaming for revenge, kept on an extremely short leash with its only wish to punch Han right in the face, but that wouldn’t have been of any use. 

Nor Rey or Ben mattered at the moment. Han was only playing his stupid game.

The room was so tense, that when the doorbell rang again everyone in the room practically jumped out of their skins.

“Are we expecting anyone else?” Rose asked nervously.

“Luke said he wanted to stop by,” Leia answered briefly, her eyes stubbornly glued on the mashed potatoes which were more mashed than potatoes at that point.

Ben rolled his eyes. 

As if Thanksgiving wasn’t ruined already, did he really need his Omega hippie uncle added to the terrible mixture?

“I-I’ll go,” Rey announced urgently, shooting a slightly worried glance at Han, who was still smiling obnoxiously at her. 

The young Omega strolled down the corridor toward the door, not particularly eager to go back to the kitchen.

If the current situation with Ben wasn’t bad enough, his overcompensating dad really seemed to have something to prove, especially in front of Ben’s let-your-pheromones-run-free mom. Their ongoing spat wasn’t helping. 

 

All that Rey needed to do was to take a deep breath and remain calm until the moment everyone left to go back home and she would have finally found the time to talk to Ben in private. 

She could do it. She was an adult. 

Of course, she was. She had eleven tattoos, which meant countless hours of physical pain. Enduring the Solo-Organa shitshow for another couple of hours was nothing in comparison.

When she finally reached the door and opened it though, her resolve melted into shock. Her eyes landed on the person who had knocked.

The bearded guy from the park, the same guy she had used as a therapist for the last year and a half, was looking at her with wide eyes, clearly as surprised as she was.

“Oh, hello,” the man muttered.

“Wait. You can talk?” Somehow, that was her first question.

“Well, yeah,” he remarked cautiously, “Usually when we meet, I’m practicing silent meditation, so…”

“Oh...and, what are you doing here?” Rey questioned, confused.

“Ahm, my sister gave me this address.” He explained, “I’m supposed to spend Thanksgiving with her and my nephew.”

Rey’s brain refused to even consider the possibility.

“Well, I’m pretty sure nobody with a child lives here. I live here so...”

“Oh, no. No, my nephew is not a child. He’s thirty, tall, dark hair.” 

“WHAT?!” Rey barely registered that she was screaming. After a second she cleared her throat, blinking furiously and asking again, calmer this time, “What?”

“He’s the one who lives here. You must know him, his name is Ben- Oh.” Realization finally must have hit the bearded guy too, further complicating matters. Which was exactly what Rey did not need.

“So... “ the bearded man cleared his throat, “I suppose Ben is actually the nice roommate you keep talking about.”

“Yes,” having a composed tone was definitely a struggle at this point for Rey, “listen, man, can we keep this thing between us? Things are already fucked enough the way they are.”

“You can call me Luke, kid,” he suggested offering her a calming smile. “Is my sister giving you two a hard time?”

“A little,” she admitted, “but Han is making things even worse.”

“Han is here?” Luke’s expression shifted to shock, and when Rey nodded, he rolled his eyes, sighing. “This is going to be pretty hard for Ben. His relationship with his parents is rather complex, and he’s going to need someone who really cares about him by his side.”

Rey was about to respond, she was probably ready to dismiss his words with some scared, intimidated ramble, but the look Luke gave him made clear enough that he wasn’t going to have any of that. 

He offered her a half smile. 

“Let’s just go, okay?”

The young Omega nodded, attempting to smile back.

As they both entered the kitchen, the situation seemed on the edge of complete disaster. Leia and Han were openly arguing at this point ignorant of the others stares. 

Rey immediately searched for Ben, only to find him alone on the couch, his back to the kitchen area. He was stubbornly focused on a game, she knew for sure he didn’t give a shit about, shoulders squared and hands gripping the remote like they were actively trying to break it. 

She took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. Ben didn’t deserve this. Didn’t deserve a bad Thanksgiving, parents too outraged at each other to not value the short time they could spend with him, he didn’t deserve her anxiousness, her fear to be dumped on him. Her terror of being considered only for her designation had stupidly turned into her perceiving Ben based on the same exact reason. 

Ben was Ben, and let’s face it, he was the best. Awkward as hell, and goofy, and a bit ridiculous sometimes, but he was the best person she’d been attracted to in a very long time, probably ever, and dismissing even a chance with him because of her fear of Alphas was pure nonsense, since her worst fear was being judged for solely on her designation. 

Yeah, she had messed things up, but this was the time to fix it. 

Leia was ranting in Han’s face about how toxic his concept of Alphaness was, both of them unaware of Luke’s arrival. 

After a few strides, Rey was in front of the couch. Ben didn’t notice her presence, too intent on the game, desperate to ignore the fight happening behind him. 

He barely blinked when she sat beside him. His expression melted when she carefully tried to remove the remote from his grasp, her slender fingers cautiously landing on his wrist while the others slowly pulled the device away, placing her own hand in his instead. 

Ben’s imposing figure shuddered, his broad shoulders relaxing, just a little. 

His eyes found hers, and they were full of hurt and shock. 

Rey had never considered herself a coward or a brave person. She had always considered herself something in between, a survivor, someone who never had the luxury of standing up for herself. Yet, as her hand fought its way into Ben’s shaking one, she realized this was probably one of the highest moment of voluntary courage in her life. 

She could have remained there, keeping them both in an agonizing limbo of insecurities and denial. It would have been painful, of course, but also safe, and reassuring in a twisted way. 

But this time, even if she was merely holding his hand, she felt like fucking William Wallace. It was as if she was screaming at the top of her lungs, shouting that nothing would take away her freedom, offering the view of her bare ass in a non-verbal invitation to her insecurities to go fuck themselves. 

Her smaller, thinner fingers entangled with his slowly. She gently grasped his palm and brushed his knuckles. It wasn’t until his hand stopped shaking and he finally held hers back, that she managed to look Ben in the eyes. 

Ben appeared visibly stunned, almost confused, brow furrowed as his dark, disturbingly intense eyes silently questioned her, his full mouth parted in surprise. 

Rey decided now was not the right moment for what needed to be said between them.

Even if Luke’s intervention was slowly putting an end to the fight in the background, they were still in public, in a manner of speaking. She could n’t say what they both needed to hear out loud. 

Instead, she offered him a shy, apologetic smile, which contrasted a little with her sad face. Maybe it wasn’t much, but she had to start somewhere.

Ben said nothing as if no verbal communication was needed. He just tilted his head, slightly, his eyes digging into hers, in search of an answer. 

She squeezed his much larger hand in hers, finally relaxing by his side on the couch. 

“Rey, what are you doing?” Ben’s voice sounded like a whispered plea, still a bit hurt, but for now his face illustrated how stunned he was.

The young Omega bit her lower lip, trying to find the right words. Damn, she had never been good with those.

Her stomach was a tangled nest of nervousness. She couldn’t mess this thing up. This, whatever it was, was too precious to be ruined, and even is she was still scared, there was no turning back. 

Wait. 

Wait a minute.

That sounded really familiar.

In a second, her whole face lit up with the warmest smile Ben had ever seen on her. She moved forward, getting closer to him enough to make her voice audible just from him.

Rey wasn’t what one would refer to as a singer. Not that she was bad at it, she just really hated doing it in public. But this was one of the languages of Ben, one of his coping mechanisms. It was perfect, just perfect. Thank you so much, Pat Benatar.

Her mouth moved closer to his ear, and a hesitant, vaguely trembling whisper came out, the melody of the old song murmured like a secret.

“We belong to the light, we belong to the thunder  
We belong to the sound of the words we've both fallen under  
Whatever we deny or embrace for worse or for better  
We belong, we belong, we belong together.”

Ben’s eyebrows were raised as she moved away just enough to take in his reaction. 

He was there, mouth slightly agape and wide, astonished eyes watching her.

His jaw worked a little, probably struggling to find something to say. Rey realized for the first time how close he actually was, how easy it would have been just to kiss him there and then, and how much she wanted to. 

Too bad they weren’t alone, and she had no intention of sharing such an intimate moment with anyone else.

After a long moment of confusion, she felt his hand tightening around hers, and his whole frame relaxed with a deep, liberating breath.

“So you can sing, huh?” he hummed under his breath, still sounding a bit nervous.

“Nah, no big deal,” she replied, fighting back a giggle, as her smaller frame leaned against his shoulder. It was no surprise when his free arm encircled her, cocooning her in a gentle, comforting grasp. 

“You were really good,” Ben pointed out, his voice still a whisper as he found himself grinning from ear to ear.

“Oh, shut up.”

“I’m serious, we should have a karaoke night sometimes.”

“Yeah, not going to happen.”

They were so busy talking, that it took Ben a few seconds to realize the messy, loud fight in the kitchen had finally concluded The whole room had fallen into complete silence. 

He glanced over his shoulder, to find every single person looking at them with wide eyes and mouth slack.

“What?” The male Alpha asked.

“Nothing,” Leia replied gingerly, clearing her throat. “Who wants some turkey?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, It took me a bloody lot of time this time, but work is being hideous, I worked on a couple of other projects but now I'm back :) Hope you like what this is going. 
> 
> And yup, Rey might have a little bit of a romantic soul herself.   
> If you want to listen to the song she sings in this chapter, here it is.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxZInIyOBXk
> 
> Thanks to SageMcMae for reminding me of the existence of this amazing piece of music that fits just perfectly in what I wanted to achieve :)  
> And for being the most caring, kind, and amazing beta around <3


	11. I would like you if you were a Beta, an Alpha or a damn Apache Helicopter

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, it's been a while, but it has been a hell of a month, and I'm overwhelmed by a lot of stuff IRL and I'm really sorry. I hope you guys are going to enjoy this even if my updates are slowing down. I can say that, right now, we're kind halfway there, so buckle up cause there's a lot of stuff that has to happen ;)
> 
> As always, my gratitude goes to SageMcMae, amazing friend and super efficient and smart beta and incredibly talented writer <3

  
  


The whole Thanksgiving dinner continued in, what could only be called, stunned harmony. 

 

In other words, everyone was too shocked by the sudden closeness of Ben and Rey to act like themselves.  If the pair had noticed the drastic change in the apartment's environment, they may have been creeped out.

 

There were no snarky remarks from Phasma or Hux, no overbearing observations by Leia, no cheeky comments from Han.

 

It was as if the entire room had turned into some kind of petting zoo. Everyone was super-cautious, making sure not to scare the two main attractions. Considering Ben and Rey’s personalities, everyone feared that even the slightest noise would cause a panicked escape.

 

The tension started to finally ease down when the guests hit the road a few hours later. Though Rey had to admit that Leia’s hug at the door was a bit too enthusiastic, as they said their goodbyes.

 

Their roommates weren’t acting any less suspicious. Hux and Rose disappeared in the tiny Alpha’s room immediately, while Phamsa answered an obviously fake business call in Korean before fleeing to her own bedroom.

 

Ben and Rey ended up being the only two remained in the kitchen. Their roommates had left them with a discouraging amount of plates waiting to be washed in the sink. They also left an uncomfortable silence lingering in the air.

 

“I was thinking about making some coffee,” Ben suggested, as he removed the ridiculous “Kiss the Alpha” apron his mother gifted to him that day. “Do you want some?”   
  
“Sure.” Rey nodded, gingerly taking a seat at the kitchen counter, her hands fidgeting nervously. “Can we talk?” She asked after taking a deep breath. 

 

Ben visibly froze. After a moment,  he managed to swallow and he nodded. He took a seat on the other side of the table, while he poured them two steamy cups of the dark beverage.

 

“Of course,” he muttered, trying to sound as relaxed as possible, with lame results.

 

It took Rey a few seconds to finally gather the courage she needed, but as he handed her the mug her eyes closed briefly. She inhaled deeply, like she was about to jump from a cliff into the coldest, scariest sea she had ever seen.

 

“First of all.” The young Omega really wanted to sound determined, strong, and empowered, but at the moment, her voice sounded more akin to a twelve-year-old trying in vain to sound like an adult. “I wanted to apologize.”   
  
“Rey, listen.” Ben sighed, his grip tightening on his coffee cup like it was his security blanket. “If this is for what happened last night, you have nothing to be sorry for. It’s okay, if we don’t want the same thing. We’re adults. I can’t force you into any kind of romantic implication that you’re not interested in.”

 

On the surface, he looked extremely rational, but Rey could distinctly smell something vaguely disturbing in his scent, the undertone of distress rapidly growing.

 

“Ben, that was not what I was apologizing about,” she remarked, hesitantly. “I mean, not just that. Of course, the whole thing was ridiculous and I was clearly thinking with my vagina at that point, but-”   
  
“Avocado,” he muttered, his lips pressing into a thin line.

 

“We decided safe words were useless.”

 

“Sorry, old habits.”

 

“Yeah, so.” Rey cleared her throat again. “I wanted to apologize about a lot of stuff, actually. I’ve been selfish. I used my lame attempt of rationalizing whatever this is to build a shield around me. I was scared, and I still am, but my fears are not a good reason to make you feel inadequate, or silly.”   
  


He didn’t reply. He merely watched her with concentrated, dark eyes, waiting for her to continue.

 

“I’ve never been particularly proud of my designation. I’ve always considered it a pain in the ass and nothing else. I know this statement would probably make your mother cringe, but this is how I’ve lived for my entire life,” She paused to take a sip of coffee. “I’ve always feared that my pheromones would be the only reason people were attracted to me, and, to be honest, it upsets me.”   
  
Ben gave her a calm, but skeptic look.

 

“Can I ask you a question, Rey?”   
  
“Sure.”   
  
“Did I ever make you feel like your designation was the only thing I cared about?”

 

It wasn’t a rhetorical question, Rey realized with surprise. He actually looked concerned. The more she thought about it, the more she realized that the answer to that was pretty simple.

 

“No, you didn’t,” she muttered, stunned more by her epiphany than by the fact, per se.

 

“Can I tell you why?” he asked. 

 

She nodded, her eyes glued on her coffee.

 

“Rey, I don’t know if you have noticed, but I’m not exactly a practical, pragmatic being,” he confessed, tilting his head. “I mean, of course you smell amazing, and part of my nature is to react to that, but, well, I’ve always been more in touch with my emotions than with my natural, instinctive side. I can’t really tell if this is a perk or a flaw.” 

 

His hands were nervously running through his hair, and no matter how hot that motion was to Rey, she found herself scanning his face instead, her attention stuck on the worried knit of his brow that was making him bite his lower lip.

 

“I’ve always been like this. I’ve spent my whole life hating the fact I’m an Alpha, hating the fact that most people label me or judge me for something I haven’t chosen. That’s why I never allowed myself to think with that part of my brain, and it’s the same thing when it comes to you. Yeah, of course you’re beautiful, and you smell delicious, but I would have liked you even if you smelled like a trash compactor. I would like you if you were a Beta, an Alpha or a damn Apache Helicopter. I know it’s cheesy, and this is not the manliest thing to say but this is what I am. This is just how my stupid minds works.”

 

Rey wasn’t as in touch with her emotion as Ben, so when the weight of his words hit her, she wasn’t ready at all. Her whole face melted without her even noticing, and all she wanted was to both cry and smile. 

 

It was not like she wasn’t happy. She was. Everything he had said was exactly what she needed to hear, but the relief his words gave her seemed to have broken something, something that needed to be broken. Somehow, in that single moment, she was free. She didn’t know what to do with the new, intoxicating freedom.

 

She could hear herself giggle, laughing out her happiness, but at the same time her eyes were wet, and liberating tears were running unstinted down her cheeks.    
  
Every laugh was followed by a sudden, unexpected sob, as Rey found herself barely breathing.

 

She must have looked quite a mess because in a second Ben was on his feet. The stool he was sitting on fell to the ground with a loud thud, and he reached for her, his huge hands cradling her shoulders e.

 

“God, Rey, are you alright?” he asked urgently. 

 

She nodded enthusiastically, even if a few sobs still escaped her lips, 

 

”I’m okay,” she cried, eyes heavy with tears, her whole face drifting between despair and joy. “I’m great actually. I think.”

 

Ben appeared even more confused by her response.

 

“Did I said something wrong?” he asked timidly.

 

“No.” The young Omega sighed. “No, no, no, no. You said nothing wrong, I just...” She inhaled sharply, trying desperately to get a grip with long, deep breaths “...apparently, my brain decided it was a good time for a meltdown.”

 

She started fanning her face like some awkward, impressionable lady from the eighteenth century, trying hard to get her shit together before Ben actually freaked out from her total lack of control.

 

For some reason, he didn’t look disgusted or scared at all. Only worried.

 

“How can I help you?”

 

Rey swallowed thickly, holding back a sob. 

 

“A glass of water?” she muttered. “Please?”

 

“Sure.” 

 

The moment he moved away, she instantly regretted her request. She had to stop her trembling hands from reaching for him, as he hurried toward the fridge.

 

“And a tissue, maybe?” Rey added.

 

Ben was already coming back with a tissue and a glass of water in his hands when her third request rolled out of her mouth unbidden.

 

“And a kiss?” 

 

He froze on the spot, stunned, his mouth going slack.

 

Rey was acutely aware that this was coming out of nowhere. Furthermore, she probably looked like a self-deprecating panda, with her make-up smeared all over her cheeks, eyes puffy, swollen and her whole face wet and red.    
  
She immediately felt foolish, but the fact that those words had basically come out of nowhere didn’t make them wrong, at all. Instead, it felt like the right thing to say, and she had no intention of being ashamed of it. Well, maybe a bit embarrassed for her bluntness, but not ashamed.   
  
When Ben didn’t instantly respond though, Rey got nervous. He supposedly felt the same way she did. He’d literally said so only seconds ago, so why wasn’t he saying now? Was this a panic attack? Was he having a stroke? Maybe she just looked too ugly right now, or maybe he was just trying to kill her. 

 

The suspense continued when he kept silent and slowly placed the glass of water in front of her. 

 

Rey’s eyes followed the glass like she was watching a trainwreck in slow motion right in front of her eyes.   
  
“Here,” the Alpha male murmured, his voice strained.

 

Her hand was still trembling when she finally took a sip. Right after that, the strangest thing happened.    
  
Her fingers outstretched to grab the tissue in Ben’s hand, but before she could, she felt the brush of the soft paper on her cheek. What felt like his big finger, pushed her head up toward him. Rey found herself staring at his face, as he cleaned her up, his expression focused and determined like He was a man on a mission. 

 

It was comforting, in some strange, primal way.

 

Ben spent a few long moments taking care of her face, his huge fingers feeling incredibly gentle and warm through the tissue.   
  


“There you go.” He hummed absently, brushing her face one last time. He curled the kleenex into a small ball and threw it carelessly on the table. His other hand remained under her chin, solid and gentle under, as he looked at her. 

 

She was sure her lungs were about to collapse because the air was refusing to come in. Things got even worse when he gingerly, tilted his face toward hers. The situation was clumsy with his tall, imposing form bent to reach for her, still sitting on her stool. It was like watching a tsunami ready to submerge her, or a herd of wildebeest on their way to stampede her. God, why couldn’t she stop thinking about Mufasa? 

 

She forced the thought of that childhood trauma away, determined to enjoy the moment. There was no room for terror, no room for panic. Ben’s face was approaching hers, slowly, gently, and there was no chance in hell she would allow her brain to interfere.

 

For a long moment, her eyes focused on his full lips, getting closer and closer, his scent growing overwhelming her nostrils, his breath skimming over her mouth.    
  
This was the time to let go.   
  
So she closed her eyes and waited.   
  
And waited.   
  
And _waited._ __   
  
What the…

 

She cautiously opened just one eye, only to find Ben temptingly close, his face less than an inch away, the tip of his nose already brushing hers, smirking at her in amusement. 

 

_ The bastard. _

 

Rey cleared her throat.

 

“Is this some kind of statement?” she murmured under her breath.

 

“Mmh...Maybe?” 

 

Her eyes were still swollen, but she didn’t hold back her snort this time. 

 

“You’re such a brat.” The young Omega grumbled with a soft giggle.

 

“Oh,  _ I’m _ the brat now.” Ben would have sounded outraged if it wasn’t for the traitorous smile that appeared.

 

_ You know what?  _ Rey said to herself, her slender hand reaching for his face, her fingers lingering on his cheek.  _ Screw it.  _ Life was definitely too short to live in fear.   
  
“Yes, you are,” she teased him and then her mouth was on his. 

 

The kiss was not nearly as shy as she expected. Maybe that emotional rollercoaster she’d undergone had been too exciting, but who cared at this point, certainly not her. 

 

As she assaulted his lips, her arms cradling his wide shoulders, Rey started asking herself why the hell hadn’t she kissed him the first time they met. Back when he was just an awkward, cute stranger looking for a new home and she was wearing her horrifying orange furry babouches. It would have been a bit rushed, for sure, but it would have spared both of them a lot of unnecessary pain and paranoia.

 

Ben tasted and smelled like the most delicious things she could think about. Rationally Rey knew that it was just her biology, that he didn’t smell like firewood and clean sheets. He didn’t taste like apple pie or beer, but she didn’t care. Her only intention was to drown in his giant sea of Alphaness while offering a majestic metaphorical middle finger to her fears.

 

The male Alpha’s response to her attention was shy at first, almost cautious. His breath seemed to be shaking just for the effort of keeping calm enough, rational enough. 

 

Even if those damn lips would have been incredibly sinful given the chance, Rey was sure of that, he was kissing her like she was made of glass. Rey was struggling to keep herself as calm as him.

 

It took her a couple of seconds to realize that his breath was growing uneven, despite how unrushed his kisses were, and it was infuriating. Ben was holding back, despite how much he wanted this by his own admission. He was barely touching her, his hands hovering around her waist.

 

Well, it was a challenge at this point, a challenge that took her literally one second to win.

 

One second, and the smallest, tiniest of bites on his lower lip, placed strategically in the current flurry of lips and tongues.

 

Ben growled deep in his throat. It felt primal, instinctive and totally delicious. Rey barely had the time to register his huge hands bracing themselves under her thighs. Then she found herself in the air, pressed flush against his chest as he stood. 

The most inebriating thing was that he was holding her like she weighed nothing, and Rey wasn’t ready for how much her pheromones liked that. Her scent spiked enough for her to perceive it clearly, as her glands started to grow hot and throbbed like never before.

 

Was this how intimacy with Alphas was? Was this what she had fought against relentlessly? Her rational mind wasn’t exactly at its best, but right now she didn’t give a damn about empowerment, edginess, and being tough. She was climbing a six-foot-three Alpha in the middle of their shared living room. Allowing herself to be there, felt like one of the most empowering moments in her life. 

 

“You’re making my attempt to take things slow very difficult.” Ben’s voice was a low, strained rumble, as she felt his mouth leaving hers to land on her neck.

 

“I’m sorry,” she apologized, not sounding convincing at all, as her back arched against him.

 

“No you’re not,” he growled back, his teeth just barely scraping her scent gland. It wasn’t the dominant, feral bite Rey would have expected from an Alpha in the middle of a steaming make-out session. Instead, it was almost gentle, a light little tease which was making her gasp shamelessly as her she tilted her head, invitingly.

 

The weirdest thing about it all was that, despite what she had thought she wanted, her hormones were indeed incredibly powerful. No matter how hard she kept telling herself that she was not into bites, especially bites from an Alpha, her body was shaking in anticipation for Ben’s teeth to go deep in her flesh. 

 

She wasn’t the only one in shock.

 

Ben’s breath was heavy, against her skin, his head nestled in the crook of her neck with no intention of moving away. His arms were holding her in an iron grip.

 

“N-no, I’m not,” she just confirmed in an undignified whine, a little too late. After all, she got quite distracted, and the young Omega woman was pretty sure that he didn’t mind at all.

 

It took him what felt like a lifetime of sighs, pleased hums, small love bites and deep breaths to finally gain the strength to move his face away from her neck. He placed a casual kiss on her cheek before looking her in the eye.

 

“Very well.” Ben’s voice sounded a bit ridiculous, as he attempted to regain composure while her smaller, leaner form was still in his solid grip. “It looks like we have two choices at this point.”   
  
“Mh?” Rey was stunned, her pupils blown wide as she looked at him.

He tried to clear his throat, again, struggling to keep himself in check.

“We can follow our instinct, you can let me take you to my room and fuck your brains out.”

  
Rey shivered visibly at his first suggestion. She never believed she could hear Ben say something so suggestive or lewd. He was usually too polite and too shy for that, but the moment the words dropped out of his mouth, she was into it.

 

“That one,” she interrupted him, not even letting him finish.

 

“Or,” Ben looked at her with a hint of regret already, “we can try and be reasonable adults, and not rush things. We can work on what we need first.”

 

The male Alpha sighed deeply, a huff of breath playing with a rebellious strand her unkempt chestnut hair. Once again, he appeared calm, despite his heartbeat pulsing frantically against her arms which were encircled around his neck, and the quite evident erection trying to emerge from his pants. Even if his pupils were big enough to cover most of his dark brown eyes, even if his thick nostrils were flaring to give him as much oxygen as his warm, solid, huge body might have needed, his tone was even and the affection in his words towered over every other possible need.

 

She gave him a long, quiet stare.    
  
The Usual Rey would have freaked out, would have intended this as a rejection, as a reason to feel not beautiful enough, not attractive enough, not loved enough. But this time, his words caused the exact opposite reaction. For the first time, Rey understood what really was happening. 

 

“This doesn’t mean I don’t like you, or that I don’t find you desirable, or -” Ben almost hurried, but Rey stopped him.

 

“I know.” She hummed, taking a deep breath. “It’s frustrating, really. I get that, but being responsible adult sucks sometimes.”   
  
“I know, I just want you to... feel comfortable with everything else, before we reach the next level,” the male Alpha blurred out.

 

“Oh,” Rey pretended to be extremely serious for a few long seconds. “I thought you were just a cockblock fan.” 

 

Ben couldn’t hold back an amused snort, his head leaning forward so his forehead could brush against hers.

 

“I’m not. I swear.” He laughed quietly. “I’m just a sex-at-the-fifth-date kind of guy,”   
  
Rey leaned backed a little, which wasn’t easy considering she was still climbing him, like a horny monkey on a very attractive tree.

 

“You can’t be serious,” she muttered, borderline shocked.

 

“Well.” The male Alpha hesitated, shrugging a little. “I could make an exception, for you,”

 

“Second date?” Rey suggested with a wicked smile, wiggling her eyebrows.

 

“Maybe fourth?” He appeared almost younger now, finally at ease, his crooked teeth showing in a wide, dorky grin.

 

“Third, that’s my last offer,” the young Omega declared, pretending to be solemn.

 

“Fine,” Ben conceded. “Now, can I take you to the couch and cuddle you, woman?”   
  
“It depends,” Rey teased. “Does it count as a first date?”   
  
He took a moment to think about it.

“Yes.”

  
“Then you can.”

  
  
  
  
  
  



	12. The Fastest Date known to Man

Ben woke up the next morning with a low groan. His back was aching, probably due to the fact he’d spent the whole night on the couch. Despite that, his first date with Rey must have gone better than he hoped because there was a tiny, sleeping furnace snoring softly on top of him. A pair of thin arms and legs were entangled with his, her pretty face drooling on his chest and her amazing, arousing scent ensnared him in its deadly grasp. 

 

Not that he had any conscious intention to move away from said grasp, not now that things seemed to finally be working, but there was a pretty evident aching in his pants, one that could easily make his resolution, about not having sex until the third date, an unachievable quest.

 

It didn’t help at all that Rey’s warm, slender body was right there, on top of his raging erection. He could almost feel her skin getting warmer against his and it was making her pheromones smell even more delicious.

 

Ben Solo was not an animal. He refused to be one, even for just a second. That was probably the reason why his inner Alpha hated him so much. Despite knowing that waking up Rey, by throwing her over his shoulder caveman-style and marching her to his room, would have surely made her happy, he also knew that none of that behavior would help them in the end. At least, not yet.

 

First, Rey needed to learn that relationship weren’t the hellhole of misery and dependence, which she feared so much. And he surely had to learn…

 

His train of thought derailed, as he tried to cautiously raise his head, in order to take a better look at the sleeping girl. It took him a fraction of a second to realize that something was wrong.

 

His head was spinning, causing his eyes to be unfocused. 

 

_ What the hell? _   
  
The times Ben had felt sick, since he had presented as an Alpha, could have been counted on just one hand. It was a perk of his designation. Illness was an incredibly rare occurrence for Alpha’s, and he couldn’t help but panic a little. However, his instinctual sharp intake of breath was a terrible idea.

 

Rey’s scent filled his nostrils, causing a weird reaction. Every muscle in his body tensed, his cock aching painfully under her. His hands started to shake. Focusing on something, that wasn’t tearing apart Rey’s clothes and fucking her senseless into the damn couch, was getting harder by the minute. Harder than his damn dick. 

 

He swallowed, only to find his mouth dry. What the hell was going on? He needed to get a grip, and soon. Before he could identify any kind of solution his fuzzy mind could offer, he heard one of the doors open in a loud screech, and he ducked his head back on the couch. 

 

It was no big deal.  Thankfully, all the doors faced the back of the couch. If he was lucky, nobody had seen them yet. They could find a way to sneak out and - 

 

“God, it smells like a damn AO brothel in here,” Phasma’s sleepy voice protested weakly, as he heard her setting up the coffee machine.

 

Ben cringed. Showing his raging erection, to any of his roommates, wasn’t exactly on his to do list. It didn’t help when Rey started to stir, making a few disturbingly cute noises as she did. Her actions only made him want to grab her and push her against a wall and - _ Wait, God, what the hell was wrong with him? _

 

The young Omega struggled to open one eye. Then, suddenly, she was opening both eyes wide, as she realized where she was and recognized the hard protrusion pressing against her belly.

 

“Hey,” she muttered, a bit stunned.

 

Ben only wished the couch under him was some kind of mean leather monster which would swallow him whole, wiping away any trace of his existence. If his face and ears looked half as hot as they felt, they were probably the same color of a ripe strawberry.

 

“Hey,” he murmured back, nervously.

 

“Hey,” a third voice joined their morning greetings. The pair turned their heads to find Phasma leaning behind the couch, elbows on the backrest, while she gave them an amused grin, “It looks like Thick and Thin finally figured  _ that _ out.”

 

“I thought we were Thick and Thin,” Rose argued, as the door of her room opened. Hux was on her tail, wearing a borrowed (and quite honestly embarrassing) kimono-like robe.

 

“I’m not thick,” the ginger objected weakly, his voice still laden with sleep.

 

“Of course you’re not, sweetie,” the tiny Alpha woman explained almost casually. “I am.”

 

“No, sorry,” Phasma replied. She pointed her finger to the couple still on the couch. “They’re Thick and Thin. You’re Tall and Small.”

 

It took Rose a couple of seconds to finally give an unimpressed nod, as Hux rolled his eyes.

 

“Yeah, that makes sense too,” she declared before she poured herself some coffee. 

 

At this point, Ben was seriously struggling to keep his panic to himself. He remained still as stone, trying not to focus on Rey’s inquisitive glare.

 

“Are you alright, Ben?” she asked, brow furrowing.

 

“Yeah, yeah, I-” _ I really want to grab you and carry you to my room, put you on all fours and just slam my -  _

 

_ What. The. Fuck? _

 

Something was really,  _ really _ wrong with him. It didn’t help when Rey’s hand land gently on his forehead to test his temperature.

 

“You’re very hot,” she muttered, clearly worried.

 

“Uh, thanks?” He tried to joke, but his voice came out deeper than usual.

 

“Haha, so funny,” Rey rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. You're very pale. Your skin is burning and your pupils are wide enough for me to see  your brain.”

 

“You can’t actually see someone’s brain through their pupils,” the male Alpha pointed out.efore he could find the strength to make any further snarky remark, His heart skipped a beat as a realization hit him. To make things even worse, Phasma spoke again, sounding cautious, but kind.

 

“Rey, honey, I think it’s better if you smell him more carefully,” she suggested. Suddenly, Ben felt the nasty clawing sting of guilt starting in his belly.

 

But why, though? He had done nothing worth being ashamed of. He was just lying there, on a comfortable surface with the most delicious Omega around still draped over him, and he was totally ready to  _ flip her under him, rip those stupid jeans away from her firm little ass and just fill her up to the brim in front of everyone. _

 

Ben Solo inhaled sharply. His eyes widened with shock, and the shock grew exponentially when Rey’s nose wrinkled a little. He noticed when she finally embraced what her senses were telling her. Her pupils dilated just as his own had. 

 

In that precise moment, the male Alpha almost jumped out of his own skin. His breath was ragged, as he grabbed the first pillow he could find, shoving it right on his hip to avoid showing his erection to everyone in the apartment.

 

He leaped off the couch, leaving behind a confused and still half asleep tangle of lonely limbs in the form of one Rey. It was a rude reaction, just bolting away from her touch as if her skin was made of boiling lava, but she would have thanked him later, once she realized what was going on. 

 

Most people in the room surely had figured it out. It wasn’t the first time Hux witnessed something like this. His knowing, yet definitely worried expression was eloquent enough. 

 

“Ben, what the--?” Rey protested weakly, a bit stunned.

 

He remained there for a long moment, every muscle tense, mouth slack, nostrils flared, holding the pillow over his crotch as if his life depended on it. He was at war with himself, as every fiber of his being screamed at him to jump back on the couch or drag Rey away with him. Needless to say, he needed to put as much distance as possible between himself and Rey, as he could, before things got dangerous. He only needed to find the strength to do it. 

 

“I-I’m sorry,” he stuttered helplessly, his voice sounding more like a desperate growl than an actual human voice. At this point, every drop of his blood screamed for sex.

 

“Hey, buddy.” In his current state, Rose sounded muffled and distant. “There’s nothing to worry about. We’re here to help, right?” Her tone was incredibly reassuring, but the last word was almost threatening, subtly addressed to everyone else in the room.

 

It was obvious that both Rose and Phasma were worried. Being Alphas themselves, they knew how things could go wrong in a situation like this. Ben swallowed, his head spinning and spinning, as he forced himself to not move,  unsure of the outcome.

 

“Sure, sure,” Phasma nodded a bit too enthusiastically. “Why don’t we go and prepare a cold shower for you, while the others search for your emergency suppressants, Benny?”   
  
Somehow he found the strength to nod, his eyes still stuck on Rey, while she kept staring at him with wide, worried eyes.

 

Oh, he would have sold his soul to ensure that she never saw him this way. But it was too late. The need to run away became stronger than the wish to remain and just-

 

“Yeah,” he muttered in response, lowering his gaze. Before he knew it, Phasma’s thick muscular arm was cradling his wide shoulder, pushing him gently, but firmly toward the corridor.

 

***   


  
Rey swallowed thickly, her nose still stuffed with Ben’s new and disturbingly delicious scent. Even if the primal part of her couldn’t help but feel thrilled, her rational mind worried at the sight of the male Alpha trembling and sweating, as Phasma escorted him toward the bathroom.

 

“Is he going in rut?” It barely sounded like a question, more like a statement.

 

Rose just nodded, chewing the inside of her cheek.

 

Rey clenched her jaw, sighing. She understood how hard it could be to go through a mating period. She distinctively remembered the pain, the need, the physical ache of every fiber of her being, as her heat consumed her three times a year. She only hoped it was less painful for Alphas, but she really didn’t know. She had no way to compare the two experiences.

 

“There’s something I can do?” she murmured, biting her lower lip.

 

“What if you and Armie remain here for a couple of minutes while Phas and I handle this?” Rose suggested hesitantly. “It’s better if you don’t go into his room, for now, especially you Rey. Your scent could make things… worse.” And, without further ado, the tiny Alpha disappeared in the corridor, leaving Rey and Armitage to exchange embarrassed expressions and awkward coughs.

  
  


***   
  
Ben’s last three hours in the bathroom had consisted of five cold showers, two different vomiting episodes, constant dizziness and a disgraceful amount of masturbation. Unfortunately, all that had led to nothing, except an even angrier erection, which refused to take some rest.

 

He barely remembered the last time he went in rut, in his adult life. Most times, considering that he had spent the last ten years avoiding any kind of physical interaction with female Omegas, his ruts had been minor issues, just a shallow body function that he could handle with an extra dosage of anti-suppressant. 

 

The injection usually occurred only minutes after the first symptoms appeared, leaving only minor consequences, like the brutal headache and his whole muscle hurting for a couple of days.

 

He remembered the time he almost got in rut while he was with Bazine. At first, she’d been thrilled, as he started showing the first effects of his mating period, probably wishing for the kinkiest sex of her life or something like that. It ended up with both of them being very disappointed, for quite different reasons, and him taking his injection mere minutes later.

 

Of course, he still felt sorry for that, for being so hormonal once in a while. Of course, he would have felt like a monster even without Bazine’s contribution, but all that mattered now was Rey. The last thing he wanted was for Rey to look at him with the same disgust that Bazine had shown him that day.

 

The problem was that, no matter what he wanted at this point, he was not going to feel better anytime soon. The first injection had done nothing for his current situation. It was probably a little too late for a last-minute remedy, and since he couldn’t inject another shot for the next twenty-four hours (if he wanted his heart to keep working), he no other option but to wait behind closed doors, with his angry, raging erect dick in his hand refusing to give him a break.

 

He was acutely aware of what his body was desperately asking for, and that only made things worse.    
  
Usually, Alphas went into rut in response to an Omega’s heat. However, at this point, he was sure that Rey was alright. She wasn’t going into heat, otherwise, he would have had issues keeping that thin wooden door closed. 

 

It was an extremely rare occurrence, nevertheless, an Alpha could accidentally be triggered if in close proximity to an Omega whom they had good chemistry with. Of course, it could only happen if the Alpha was actually physically frustrated, and, let’s admit it, repressed, and well, Ben didn’t know someone who fits that description better than him.

 

When he heard something moving behind the closed door, muffled steps cautiously coming closer, his problem became indescribably worse. Despite the barrier between them, it took him less than a second to scent her.

 

“Ben?” Rey was definitely worried, her voice almost sweet. He forced himself to move his hand away from his dick out of respect. While the act was indeed challenging, he managed to keep his hands clasped together so as not resume his previous ministrations.

 

“Mh?” It was disturbing how dark, deep and ragged his reply came out.

 

“How are you feeling?”

 

_ Horny, desperate, needy, like crap. _ Ben cleared his throat, putting a sinister amount of effort into his attempt to appear calm.

 

“Fine.”  _ Smooth, indeed. _ It would have worked a little better if he had managed to actually not sound like a beaten dog.

 

“Ben.” It was not some sweet, gentle reprimand, or something coming out of the tenderness of her heart. Rey’s single word sounded like a warning.

 

The Alpha male’s lips reduced into a thin line.

 

“I feel like shit,” he admitted, brokenly.

 

“I-I’m sorry.” On the other side of the door, Rey’s voice had lost all of a sudden all her firmness. “Is this my fault?”   
_   
_ _ Yes, because you’re too delicious. How dare you be so delicious? No wonder I just want to come out of this stupid bathroom and fuck your brains out. You’re far too delicious for your own good. Stop being so delicious! _

 

“No,” he forced himself to say, mentally cursing his own brain for his current state. “It- it just can happen, sometimes.”

 

“I-I’m sorry.” God, why does she have to sound this sweet, this vulnerable? “Is there something I can do?”   
  
_ Yes, you can come here and let me fuck you until one of us passes out. _

 

“Please, don’t ask,” he only managed to whine.

 

“O-okay.” She must have realized her mistake because she sounded uncertain. When she spoke again, she was cautious. “Listen, Ben, what if I stay out here and we just talk for a while?”   
  
_ Great, just great, _ that was exactly what he needed right now, a constant reminder that the object of his now barely containable  attraction was only one door away.

 

“I don’t think I can do it,” he admitted shakily.

 

“I- just listen then, okay?”   
  
What came out of his mouth was a grunt of agreement.

 

“When it happens to me,” she started nervously. Ben could only hope that whatever she was about to say, wouldn’t make things worse. Of course, he was wrong. “When I’m in -”  
  
“ _ **Avocado!**_ ” It came out as strangled and as desperate as it could.

 

“Yeah, sorry,” Rey cleared her throat. “I-I know that it’s not exactly the same thing, but I know how painful, how… lonely it can be. I just don’t want you to be alone through this.”   
  
Ben found himself inhaling sharply. He forced himself to close his eyes and shake his head, even if she couldn’t see him.

 

“Rey-”   
  
“When it happens to me.” Her voice was steadier now. “The physical pain is not even the worst part. Of course, it’s horrible. I know that, but the worst part is that you’re not meant to feel like this.” She hesitated for a moment He could almost feel her swallowing. “That it’s just nature’s way of telling you that you’re supposed to have someone by your side, and it’s cruel. I know it is. It’s like life telling you that you’re not supposed to be a whole person, that you’re meant to be with someone else if you want your existence to have meaning, like if you’re nothing if you’re alone.”

 

Ben didn’t know how to respond to her.  Even if he had been in a clear state of mind, he would have struggled to express the pain growing in his chest. 

 

All of a sudden, the only thing he knew was the distinct sorrow in her voice. It covered everything, even his fear and his current painful erection that wouldn’t go away. Everything went numb, everything but her suffering and his primal need to comfort her, to take care of her.

 

“I really don’t want you to feel like this, Ben,” she continued, and his eyes were almost drilling a hole in the wooden door. He was so desperate to look at her.

 

“I-I don’t have a choice,” he muttered, defeated, interpreting her long moment of silence after her last words, as a request for an answer.

 

“You do, Ben.” Rey’s tone was solemn “You can open this door and let me help you.”

 

It was official then. He was definitely hallucinating. 

 

“Rey, don’t be ridiculous.” He really hoped he could sound slightly less bitter, but he just couldn’t.

 

“I’m not being ridiculous.” 

 

“Yes, you are.”   
  
“No, I’m not.”   
  
“Well, you’re suggesting me to get out of here and-”   
  
“Work this rut out. With me.”   
  
Ben’s heart was on the verge of collapse.

 

“It’s not going to be fun if that’s what you’re thinking,” he almost hissed.

 

“I don’t care.” _Damn_ , she sounded very determined. “I want to help you,”

 

“Well, good luck with that.” Ben couldn’t believe he was actually chuckling at her suggested, even if it was darkly. “You would have problems even at keeping me at an arm’s length.”

 

“I never said I would.” She cleared her throat. “Keep you at an arm’s length, I mean,”

 

His hands were openly trembling, the mere capacity of speaking suddenly forgotten.

 

is silence must have worried Rey, because she called to him again, only a few seconds later.

 

“Ben? Did you faint?”   
  
“...Almost.”   
  
“Are you going to open this door?”   
  
The male Alpha’s eyes were glued on the doorknob, his jaw working furiously. Of course, he could open that door, and, of course, he wanted to. It would have been all too easy to do so. 

 

“I don’t want our first time to be like this.” He managed to blurt out, forcing his eyes to the floor.

 

“Like what?”

 

“Meaningless,” Ben murmured, lowering his head, defeated. “Solely motivated by the urge.”

 

The strangest thing happened. It was a small, indistinct sound at first, but as Ben moved closer to hear better, his eyes widened.

 

She was laughing. Rey was trying to keep herself in check, but on the other side of the closed door, she was unable to stop laughing.

 

“What’s so funny?” He asked, hurt.

 

“Ben.” She was smiling, he could hear it in her voice. “You’re ridiculous. I’m an Omega woman with intimacy issues. I’m willing to put aside my fears to be close to the only person who has ever made me feel not alone because I need you to be fine. I need you to not be alone in this. It doesn’t sound that meaningless to me. Do you still think it sounds meaningless?”   
  
Ben was speechless. Not that his last three hours in the damn bathroom had done anything to improve his current capacity to articulate, yet he was dumbfounded by her admission.or some reason his eyes were getting wet. 

 

This girl. This brilliant girl. He didn’t deserve her.

 

He tried hard to say the right thing, to just speak and express the turmoil of gratitude, affection, and devotion invading him at the moment, but before he could even try she was speaking again, sounding even more amused this time. 

 

“Oh, I see, you’re still playing hard to get.”

 

Ben found himself chuckling again, despite himself.

 

“I-I’m not,” he protested weakly.

 

“Of course, you are,” she insisted. “This, or you’re actually a masochist, in which case, I’m more than okay with it. Actually, I’ve got a couple of very interesting sex toys in my room, if you’re in that kind of stuff.”   
  
He couldn’t help but laugh again.

 

“You’re such a smartass,” he huffed.

 

“Oh, honey,” her voice was blatantly mocking. “You have no idea,” 

 

His forehead was resting against the door now. Somehow, he could almost feel her on the other side, sitting on the floor, back on the wooden surface between them.

 

“I have an idea,” she declared after a while.

 

“What do you have in mind?”   
  
“I know you really cared about the whole third date thing, and I know we really had just the one. What if I grab a snack and I eat it here, while we talk? Can that count as a second date?”

 

Ben shook his head, tongue-tied for a long moment, but he was smiling.

 

“And the third?” he asked.

 

“The third starts when you open the door.”   
  
His smile faded just a bit, mostly because his heartbeat was almost overwhelming at this point. 

 

“A-are you sure?” Ben barely recognized his voice.

 

“I am.” 

 

He swallowed, taking a deep breath.

 

“Rey?”   
  
“Yes?”   
  
“Go and grab a snack.” 

 

He heard her rise to her feet, but the sound gave away that it was probably more like a jump.

 

“Be right back.” He heard as she ran toward the kitchen.

 

***   
  
Rey was back in front of the bathroom door as soon as humanly possible, already chewing a chocolate bar eagerly. 

 

“I’m here,” she announced. 

 

“You’re eating already?” Ben sounded surprised, behind the closed door.

 

“Yup,” the young Omega woman confirmed, shamelessly. “There were no rules about the duration of the second date, right?”

 

Her heart warmed a little, as she heard his soft chuckle.

 

“Rey, I… I need to warn you,” he blurted out. “Sex with Alphas in rut can be…challenging,”   
  
Oh, this huge fluffy kid. Always worrying, always scared. 

 

“If you’re the Alpha in rut, then I don’t care,” she informed him like it was the most obvious thing in the world. “I love challenges, and I have Gatorade, peanut butter and a ton of Vaseline in my room.”

 

The last revelation must have startled him a bit.

 

“What do you do with a ton of Vaseline?”

 

Rey just rolled her eyes, snorting, definitely amused.

 

“I have eleven tattoos, Ben.” She pointed out, raising her eyebrows at the door as if he could see her expression through the wooden barrier.

 

“Oh,” he murmured. “That makes sense.” It took him at least three deep breaths, to talk again. Rey could almost hear them. “Rey…have you finished your snack?”

 

Oh, right, she had almost forgotten. She chewed the last piece like a woman possessed, as fast as she could without dislocating her jaw, putting the wrapping in the back pocket of her jeans.

 

“Yeah,” she nodded, expectantly. 

 

Her eyes were still glued on the doorknob when it started spinning, slowly, hesitantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> After twelve chapters (TWELVE. I'M PRETTY SURE I HAVEN'T FIGURED OUT THIS WHOLE A/B/O THING CORRECTLY), we're finally getting there :D YAY!!! Thanks for reading, folks :D :D Every kudos and every comment is a breath of joy and fresh air and makes my day :D 
> 
> As always, my unconditioned love and devotion to Sage McMae for being the most patient, kind and sweet beta ever <3


	13. Being excavated like some ancestral archaeological site by an Alpha Bulldozer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm SO SO SO sorry that it's taking me so long! Real life is super busy right now, and it will be until at least the second week of may :( I'm sorry. I'll try my best to at least catch up with comments ASAP :( I want to thank you all for the amazing response to this fic, and for being patient. I hope you're going to like this chapter because the waiting has finally come to an end ;)  
> Thanks to Sage Mc Mae for being an amazing beta and a sweet and supportive friend <3

 

Rey was struggling to keep up with the last few minutes of her life. The sudden change felt almost brutal but in an adorable, delicious way.

 

All she knew was that, at some point, the bathroom door opened and now she was being carried around. Ben’s arms held her against him, as her legs found their rightful place around his waist.

 

That was an interesting enough fact all by itself. 

 

Rey was unfamiliar with the concept of being held, but for once in her life, the unfamiliar didn’t make her uncomfortable. It did, however, make her disturbingly horny, because Ben’s hands were under her ass, keeping a firm grip to make sure she didn’t fall, and his mouth was everywhere else. 

 

On her own, on her shoulders, collarbone, he was nuzzling, grazing and kissing everything within reach, enthusiastically, restlessly.

 

And it wasn’t just that.

 

His scent was, at least on a hormonal level, the most overwhelming stimulus her brain had ever received. She was slowly, inevitably, melting into it, her breath growing impatient for more and more of it.

 

Ben always smelled good, but this time his scent has a wild, primal hint to it. Normally he smelled for her like everything safe she could think of, like books, blankets, and beer. Now smelled like excitement, need, and sex, and her brain couldn’t find something to compare it with. 

 

She positively squealed, as she heard Ben’s leg distinctively kicking the door of her room open.

 

_ Damn _ , she could get used to this.

 

His skin was boiling against hers, every muscle tensing, every part of him trying to get as close as possible to her. 

 

For once, he appeared pleased by her enthusiasm. Every time her mouth landed on any part of him she could reach —cheekbones, lips, brow, chin, neck —he shivered visibly.  A low, deep rumble of appreciation surged in his throat at every turn.

 

It was comical, actually, the way both of them bumped casually against one another in search of a new place to kiss, or to nibble.

Rey had always imagined Ben as the cautious, talkative type in bed. She thought he’d be the kind of guy who couldn't stop asking if everything was alright, but now, maybe due to his rut, it was as though he didn’t feel compelled to, to ask. And, in a way, it was true. 

 

His scent was overpowering hers, making her feel safe and protected, even if there wasn’t even an inch of danger on the horizon, well, at least not an actual, practical one. This was indeed something new for her. Until now, those sensations had been foreign to her, foreign to the point that Rey doubted she capable of feeling like that.

 

As he started to nuzzle against her the scent gland under her ear, she felt her whole body go slack against him, reducing her to an aroused, desperate pile of goo in his arms.

 

“God, Rey, I-.” His voice was more an animalistic growl than an actual human, yet there wasn’t anything scary about that. There wasn’t anything scary about his thick, deep, entrancing sound vibrating against the skin of her neck. His words trailed off. He was clearly struggling to focus. At that point, Rey’s wish was to replay an anticlimactic _ “same, dude, same,” _ which she luckily managed to avoid. 

 

She whined when he left her neck alone for a few seconds. Apparently, even Alpha males in rut needed to breathe. That was indeed unfair. She forced herself to open her eyes, as she noticed his lips had gone away for too long, only to find Ben looking around the room with a wide, surprised gaze.

 

“These are… beautiful.” He struggled to complete a full sentence, but his admiration was genuine Rey felt her face becoming hot. Of all the things that had occurred in the last few minutes, she was actually blushing because Ben had noticed her art. An infinite amount of drawings she had made were glued meticulously to the walls of her room. Was this, of all things,  seriously embarrassing her? Damn, she was such a mess.

 

“T-thanks,” she blurted out, breathless.

 

“Did you make this?” He asked with another unusually deep growl.

 

She nodded, nuzzling his face with the tip of her nose, and smiling despite herself. Ben Solo, ladies and gentlemen, being his adorable, sensitive, attentive self, even when his body was a boiling mountain of arousal.

 

“They’re amazing,” he continued, his breath still uneven. “I want to fuck you against them.”

 

Rey had to hold back a squeal, as her smile turned into a shocked, pleasantly surprised expression. She really didn’t see  _ that  _ coming. Kinky Ben was something new, and definitely interesting.

 

His mouth was searching for hers again. There wasn’t a single hint of his usual embarrassment on his face.

 

“Can I?” He pushed just a little, and Rey was shocked by the overly enthusiastic “ _ Yes _ ” that left her mouth.

 

“Great, great, t-thanks.” Yup, his communications skill were a mess, but Rey couldn’t find in her heart to care. Honestly, Ben could use his current rut as an excuse, but what was hers, exactly? 

 

Her mind didn’t have time to unravel that thought because her whole body had been unexpectedly lifted off Ben’s hips to land on her bed. Rey felt a bit like a rag doll, pliant while he grabbed her babouches and threw them somewhere behind his back, alongside her favorite Nightmare Before Christmas socks.

 

The second objective of his methodical frenzy was her oversize Kiss shirt. 

 

His movements weren’t as precise as he probably hoped they would be. Rey could read that in the pout on his face, as his huge hands trembled a little, getting rid of her shirt and throwing it to the ground. 

 

She frowned though when he straddled her, his arms gathering her bare torso against him.

 

“What about the whole wall thing?” Rey asked. 

 

She wasn’t exactly disappointed. Right now, she would have let Ben fuck her on every possible element of the periodic table, toxic and radioactive ones included. Yet, she couldn’t help but feel a little curious, even if his lips were basically covering every inch of her face enthusiastically, kissing and nibbling, making the mere process of talking quite complex.

 

“I-” He gathered a deep breath against her cheek, stuck in the same struggle as her. “I need to prepare you first,” he finally responded, caressing the soft spot under her ear.

 

Rey gasped, her back arching against his disappointingly clothed torso.

 

“Prepare me?” It was meant to come out in an inquisitive tone, but Rey was fighting to keep her eyes open. Her mouth had gone slack in pleasure, as he experimentally licked her gland to keep her intonation straight.

 

“Y-you’re not ready yet.” He half-growled against her skin, and in her blissful, ignorant confusion she was deeply tempted to ask, in the most unreasonable way, _how? Ready for what? What do you want to_ \- Every possible question got wiped out from her mind, as she felt Ben’s hips shifting, the pressure of his legs moving from her hips to somewhere between her thighs, while his warm fingers hooked both the waistband of her sweatpants and the hem of her panties. Practical move indeed. 

 

In any other circumstances, she would have been shocked that her panties were soaked. They left a wet trail on the inside of her thighs, as Ben dragged them down. Despite that, she was grateful to her body for its capacity to keep up with the giant, horny Alpha currently on top of her. 

 

Ben must have been incredibly grateful too if his entranced stupor was any indication. He remained absolutely still for a long moment, eyes glued on her cunt, now awkwardly on display a, his mouth agape. 

 

He remained so still for so long, that Rey ended up asking herself if he was having a stroke, a Stendhal Syndrome attack, or if her lady parts had grown some kind of abnormal Cthulhu-like tentacle without her noticing.

 

“Ben?” She cleared her throat, awkwardly. “Are you alright?” 

 

It took him another second to raise his eyes to her face. 

 

“Mh?”

 

“Are you alright?”

 

His expression was a combination of gratitude, shock, excitement and something that resembled the daze only a religious experience could provide.

 

“I-Ah, yeah,” he eventually answered. Hesitantly, his eyes wandered around, focusing on the gracious floral tattoo that adorned an expanse of skin from her hip to her pubic bone. “It’s-ah, very artistic down there.”

 

Regardless of the throbbing need between her legs, Rey’s first instinct was to laugh at his assessment. All the nervousness in her system vanished, as she giggled helplessly, squirming a little in his grasp.

 

“You just called my vagina _ artistic _ ?” She grinned, trying to ease her own breath.

 

“Well, it is,” he grumbled defensively. “It’s not my fault, I wasn’t the one putting a pretty tattoo on it.”

 

Rey had to force herself not to  _ aaaawww  _ shamelessly in his face.  Instead, she decided to cradle his face and pull him to her for a kiss. The tender act was probably too slow, considering the circumstances. Ben seemed to enjoy it nevertheless if his half-contained moan was of any indication.

 

“Now can you please take off some clothes, Mr. Art Critic?” She teased him, murmuring her request against his mouth. 

 

Well, if the iconic scene from Bruce Almighty in which Jim Carrey disrobed just by throwing his arms behind his body assuming a disturbingly aerodynamic pose would have been physically possible, Ben would have probably gone for it without a second thought.  He was basically wiggling out of his clothes like they were made of lava, in the fastest, more awkward and yet more arousing strip tease she had seen in her life.

 

In a matter of seconds everything covering him went off, shoes falling in a loud thud to the ground and every other article of clothing he was wearing flew off like confetti in the air, boxer briefs included. 

 

Now it was Rey’s turn to be absolutely dumbfounded.

 

Ben barely huffed out a brief, “Sorry if it took me so long,” before he noticed her expression Her eyebrows raised to her hairline, her eyes stuck on his lower belly, where his erection was jutting out, looking very prominent and definitely angry. She almost felt the need to apologize to it and also, for some reason, beg for its mercy like it was some kind of incarnation of a huge, primal, unforgiving god. Probably not a normal reaction when seeing someone’s dick for the first time. 

 

The most overwhelming part, though, was the smell of it. Of course, she remembered her AO health classes. She consciously knew that at the base of his cock, there were tiny scent glands. That was just how his biology worked. She knew she had her own in a very similar place, on the inside edge of her outer labia. That knowledge hadn’t prepared her for her body’s reaction when the scent reached her nose. 

 

Her mouth was watering, and whatever throbbing might have afflicted her lower belly until now was nothing compared to the wave of warm, solid anticipation that dismantled any kind of rationality left in her. All she wanted was to spread her legs, shamelessly, like it was the only reasonable thing to do, and somewhere in the back of her head she could only approve, eager at this point to see Ben losing even the single little string of inhibition his already raging rut had left in him by the power of the same scent glands that had stunned her just a moment before.

 

Despite her desperate desire, and against her inner Omega’s wishes, she kept her legs closed for a minute longer. She moved forward to nuzzle gently her nose against the scent gland under his ear, reluctantly avoiding other glands she would have preferred.

 

“Ben?” She called, cautiously, while she held to his huge shoulders. His face melted against her collarbone, as he groaned in appreciation.

 

“Mh?” he only managed to moan.

 

“I need you to promise me something.”

 

The Alpha man in her arms nodded. “Anything.”

 

“I need you to leave the mating gland on the back of my neck alone,”

 

Her inner Omega was hating her with the power of a thousand suns, but she had to push that word out, sure that, in a couple of minutes, she would have surely forgotten about that very important detail.

 

Ben didn’t seem actually disappointed, more like surprised, like he had almost forgotten about that all along, and now the possibility, even if denied, was doing something very wild to him.

 

“Can you do that?” She continued, gingerly.

 

He huffed. Ben Solo distinctively huffed,  _ the bastard _ , his head falling on her shoulder as his arms clung to her possessively.

 

“...Just a tiny nibble?” It was a plea. He would have made a poker face if he had been able to. Despite herself, Rey found herself snorting in amusement. This man. _ Seriously. The nerve. _

 

“Ben,” she warned him.

 

“Nuzzling?”

 

“Is this a negotiation?”

  
  
“Licking. Just one lick, just once.” 

 

Rey couldn’t believe how young he sounded. As he spoke against her collarbone, his growly, hoarse voice sounded grumpy. Somehow she found the strength to ignore her body falling apart, in order to ensure that neither of them did something they’d regret.

 

She sighed, smiling faintly against his hair.

 

“Fine.”

 

Ben’s enthusiasm at her concession was overwhelming. He kissed her face frantically, every single kiss sloppier than the one before. Then his hands were on her hips, burning, and firm. He flipped her on her belly like she weighed nothing, making her squeal in surprise.

 

“I’m just claiming my prize.” He purred, leaning against her lean body, his weight crushing her deliciously against the mattress.

 

“If you do another claiming reference, or you call me Omega as if we’re in porn or something, I swear to God, I-”

 

Her voice died in her throat when she felt the moist, tentative pressure of his tongue against the back of her neck, hitting the spot no one had touched before. The only time she had allowed anyone access to her mating gland was when the tattoo artist, an Omega guy in his late sixties, had put her beloved “ _Don’t even think about it_ ” tattoo there. She clearly remembered how painful that had been, how she ended up in tears without finding the strength to stop crying. Well, she was about to cry again, but it was a whole different feeling. Ben’s attention to her sacred spot was like hot, burning lava radiating from the tip of his tongue. It spread down along her arching back, hitting against the burning skin of his erection against the soft flesh of her ass, making even her toes curling.

 

“Ben.” She was a breathless, sobbing mess under him. “Do that again,”   
  
“But-” 

 

“I said.” She was the one growling now, and she was terrified by her own voice. ”Do that again.”

 

Whoever called Omegas submissive, and declared that being commanding wasn’t in their nature, must have never seen a horny one before. 

 

Ben shivered on top of her. He balanced his weight on his elbows to keep himself from crushing her. His breath was deep and uneven, as he rolled his hips against her ass in shallow, soft movements. He acted as though he was trying to maintain control, since Rey clearly wasn’t, which was ironic considering which of them was in the middle of their mating cycle. 

 

She was literally trembling, impatient, under him, and when the tip of his tongue found her mating gland again, just scraping it as gently as his current state allowed him, it was combined with the sudden, intense pressure of his massive hand cupping her cunt, a single digit sliding inside with surprising ease.    
  
Rey could feel herself covering his fingers in slick, like a merciless wave. Her mind went blank, as soon as he resumed licking her gland. She was rendered incapable of ll basic functions, barely keeping her eyes open while her mouth she incoherently pronounced a stream of _ fuck, yes, please,  _ followed by another  _ fuck. _

 

She barely registered his response, as his thick, dark voice spoke.

 

“You’re ready.” Ben murmured against the back of her neck. The vibration of his voice against her skin made her eyes water. “You’re so ready.”

 

Rey groaned in approval. As her back arched against him, her backside pushing eagerly into his hips, her overly wet cunt contracted on his finger.

 

She nearly cried, when she felt his digit withdrawing from her. A second later, Rey was whimpering, as she felt a the heavier, and definitely bigger, pressure of his cock sliding across her entrance. 

 

One of Ben’s forearms encircled her hips. He tilted them to his preferred angle without minimum effort, making feel Rey incredibly tiny. 

 

If someone would have told her no less than a couple of weeks ago that she would have ended up all flustered and aroused under a two hundred pounds, six foot three Alpha begging for his dick, Rey would have surely punched said someone right in the face.

 

But somehow, at this point, the only coherent word that kept forming on the tip of her tongue was  _ Please _ , and she really had to bit the inside of her cheek to not say it out loud.

 

Her struggle ended mere seconds later when she felt his thick, warm shaft push past her entrance. The unprecedented amount of her slick made the intrusion effortless, despite the considerable stretch.

 

Rey was rendered incapable of articulating even the smallest of words, in response. 

 

By some miracle, she managed to turn around enough to look at Ben. What she found, was, in her personal opinion, unprecedented and majestic.

 

The expanse of his pale skin was a sweaty mountain of flexing muscle as his scent overpowered hers. His hair was a wonderful, black mess, some of them glued to his creased forehead as his full mouth remained opened, between awe and lust, dark eyes fixed on her face, getting a bit darker every time she whimpered.

 

In an unexpected moment of lucidity, Rey asked herself if she was somehow a bad member of the AO community for enjoying this so much, for doing exactly what the mainstream narrative expected of her. But after a couple of deep, forceful thrusts, Ben settled deep inside her, and Rey decided she didn’t give a damn. Her eyes rolled into the back of her head. Her toes curled, her body stretching to make as much space as possible for his demanding cock.

 

“A-ah, a-am I hurting you?” This man was full of surprises. Ben Solo, male Alpha in rut, still had the capacity to speak in full sentences. That was certainly more than what could be said for her. Damn, this whole mating gland thing was dangerously powerful.

 

“N-no.” Her voice wavered The deeper he pushed, the more her back seemed to arch against his chest. Her head was angled enough to nestle the nape of her neck against his shoulder.

 

“Ben- Ah! Ben, I-” 

 

The canting of his hips was growing faster, every thrust stronger than the one before, as if he couldn’t help himself. Something on the base of his cock started to swell in a delicious, intoxicating way she was not familiar with. Rey had never cried during sex before. She had screamed, rarely, laughed a couple of times, cringed more than she cared to admit, but she had never, ever cried. 

 

Now, she was the one deep in a full-scale Stendhal Syndrome attack, even though she had laughed only minutes earlier about Ben having one.

 

Ironically, she was the one on the verge of tears, in complete awe from enjoying -- what was probably the most intense sex of her life -- and dwelling in the dizziness it was giving to her. It was like being high on dick and pheromones, like being on an acid trip and hallucinating about being excavated like some ancestral archeological site, a lost fertility temple forever forgotten, unexpectedly seeing the light again by the good grace of a raw, violent and yet incredibly welcome Alpha bulldozer. To be completely honest, the metaphor in itself wasn’t supposed to make any sense, she was clearly incapable of thinking straight.

 

“I-I’m loving this.” She managed to mutter, finally completing a sentence.

 

“Me too,” Ben grunted breathlessly behind her. No matter how forceful and overwhelming the thrust of his hips might have been, Rey was impressed by the tender relief he gave when he brushed his lips along her shoulder. 

 

The mere sensation of his hair caressing her spine, combined with the gentleness of his mouth on her skin made her whimper. For a second, she forgot the impending pleasure of her orgasm, in favor of something she hadn’t expected.

 

The warmth of affection. 

 

Rey couldn’t say she was prepared for that. She couldn’t think about a single time in her life, in which she had feelings for her partner. It was a scary first, overwhelming, and just amazing in a way she couldn’t really describe. If her eyes were watering before, she was properly crying now, without even realizing it.

 

Apparently Ben did, though, because his movements slowed down, and his breath got caught in his lungs.

 

“Rey?” He called to her. His voice deep and worried. His huge hand moved to gather her cheek, the tip of his fingers stroking her hair. “Rey, sweetheart, what’s wrong? Am I being too rough? Do you need me to slow down?”

 

The Omega found herself smiling, a little sob escaping her lips.

 

Not even a proper rut could stop Ben Solo from being the cutest gigantic bastard around. And she loved it. Damn, she could even love - 

 

_ No, nope, no. Not yet. Too soon, let’s not get ahead of ourselves. _

 

She turned her head, tilting it enough to rest her forehead on his cheek.

 

“I’m okay,” she mewled. Her face was a confused mask of joy and tears. She was startled at how tiny her voice sounded when she asked him, “Just kiss me, okay?”

 

Ben nodded against her forehead, almost frantically.

 

“Oh, Rey.” His hand kept stroking her cheek, while he started rolling his hips again, gentler this time. Rey thought he might have said something else, but all she could understand was that his lips were again on hers. Everything was fine now.

  
  


**Author's Note:**

> if you want to check out art about this fic and other art by me feel free to take a look at my Tumblr: spiegatrixlestrange


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